Heaven vs Hell
by Lady Shockbox
Summary: Five years after the Unicron Battles, Alexis is doing a semester project for school. However, when she decides to do her report on a church, the priest claims he can revive Starscream. Taking his offer turns out to be a very bad idea. Armada
1. Whisper

Shockbox: (walks in, sits down, and sighs) I present to you the result of watching a trailer for Escaflone and watching one too many episodes of Full Metal Alchmist. The Box presents _Heaven vs. Hell_. (pops confetti) This is based off the original version that I wrote back in 2005 when my grammar and spelling was a total disaster. I'm much better now obviously, but this is really one my my favorite stories ever. Please enjoy and leave a review!

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**/Don't turn away, don't give in to the pain/**

**/Don't try to hide, though they're screaming your name/**

**/Don't close your eyes, God knows what lies behind them/**

**/Don't turn out the light, never sleep never die/**

_Whisper_ - Evanescence

**000**

In aisle seven in the rear of the library, Rad and Alexis stood by the shelves searching for a copy of the Bible Rad was doing his final semester project on. Alexis, still unsure on what to do for her semester project, stood there quietly beside her friend.

The library itself was old and the books seemed rather dusty. The interior of the library itself was huge, with over twenty-four rows of shelves standing towards the back of the library, standing at least twelve feet tall and filled with over hundreds of books. The rest of the small space left had several tables for reading at and the check-out desk towards the front of the library.

It had been five years since the Transformers destroyed Unicron in the Unicron battles and five years since Starscream died. Rad, Carlos, Billy, Fred, and Alexis were getting ready to graduate from high school. Their grades were closing fast and ever since Star committed suicide, Alexis' grades were beginning to drop. In order for her to get her diploma, she had to do on Hell of a job on her semester project.

The project itself could be done on anything consisting of creative value, weather it was a report or a fiction story. It was one of the biggest grades you could get all year and, in Alexis' case, it could mean weather she stayed back or went on college. Unfortunately, Alexis had yet to figure out what she wanted to do for the project while the rest of her friends had already started.

Carlos was doing a report on the battle of Waterloo in which the famous French general, Napoleon, surrendered and lost a battle for the first time in his life. Billy, who knew much about vehicles and how they worked, was doing a report on how different engines for different vehicles worked. Then, Fred, as expected, was doing a report on how chips were processed and made. Finally, Rad was doing a report on the Bible, the story of Jesus Christ in particular.

The two friends were quietly discussing what Alexis could do for a report. Finally, after several minutes of searching for the Bible and talking about possible project ideas, Rad came up with the idea of going downtown and looking at some of the old buildings.

"Those buildings on the end of town are really old and probably have a cool history to them. Maybe, if you wanted, you could ask the owners to give you some info on them," Rad stated as he pulled the Bible off one of the shelves once he found it.

Alexis shrugged her shoulders unsure as Brad put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Alexis, you have to do _something_ for your report. I mean, what do you think _he_ would want you to do?"

Alexis looked at him with her full attention now. Rad felt sorry for her. The day Starscream joined the Autobots, he saw how nervous she was around him. After awhile, she stared to approach him more and more often.

Rad didn't think it was anything special, just that she was trying to befriend him. Then after what happened inside Unicron and on Cybertron, he realized she didn't just like him as a friend. After the way she broke down and cried her heart out when Optimus told her and everyone on the Autobot ship he died, there was only one thing that came to Rad's mind.

She loved him.

She never cried so hard in her life. Even when her parents died, she didn't cry as hard as she did for Starscream. Also taking into account, when her parents died, she acted almost normal in a sense. She didn't cry as much and she was still very active, outgoing, and nasty if you did something to get her upset. Now, after Starscream, she cried herself to sleep and broke down into tears if you yelled at her loud enough.

"Maybe I'll check it out. I still got time left before I have to head back to Gram's place," she replied quietly as she and Rad headed towards the front of the library.

Rad placed the Bible on an empty table as he turned to Alexis. "We'll I'm going to start my report so I'll see you later."

Alexis smiled at her friend as she clutched the emerald stone necklace around her neck. She then frowned when she felt the crack running through it, the same crack that formed the exact moment Star died. She sighed deeply and smiled softly again.

"Yeah, see ya," she simply replied before she turned away and walked out the exit.

Rad sighed as she left, watching her walk across the street when there weren't any cars and walking down the sidewalk. After she was out of his sights, he pulled out a chair pushed into the table and sat down. He opened the bible he took off the shelf and opened it to a random page and froze in shock. It was a picture of Jesus Christ. Around his neck was an emerald stone necklace.

"That's just creepy," Rad replied as he turned to the section that had Jesus' story, leaving many questions unanswered.

**000**

Not far away, Alexis walked down the street. It was close to nightfall and the sun was setting over the horizon. She loved summer days like this. The orange, red light emitted from the sun reminded her of Starscream's amber eyes before he was upgraded, changing his burning eyes to a passionate silver.

She walked into the older section of town and looked around. All the buildings were old indeed, but none of them seemed to interest her. If she wanted any glint of hope for doing the project, it needed to be something she was interested in. If she wasn't, chances were she wouldn't do well and not go to college.

"_Alexis…" _

She stopped walking and froze in place. A cold wind blew and she swore she heard the wind itself call her name. The voice also sounded like it was a male and female talking at the same time. It seemed to come from all around her and the air got cold.

"_Alexis…" _

She heard the voice again except it sounded like it was beside her. Turning her head, she saw an old church that looked like it was at least three hundred years old. It was painted a dull white as the paint on it chipped and peeled off easily. Green vines were running up the sides of the massive walls and there was a huge bell at the top on the building, several pigeons perched on the grey roof.

"_May his light guide you…" _

Alexis jumped at the whispering, almost taunting voice. It was starting to scare her as a sudden gust of wind blow her from behind. Stumbling forward, Alexis almost fell off the sidewalk and into the street from the burst of strong wind. Once she managed to regain her balance, she gazed back up at the building again. She thought about possibly doing it for her project but dismissed the thought.

"I doubt anyone still works there. It's so old," she said to herself as she turned and started to walk away, only to stop when she saw some light abruptly some from the tinted windows, as if someone chose that very moment to light some candles.

Turning back the building, she sighed as she gazed at the tall structure. Suddenly, the voice struck once again.

"_May you not die…" _

Alexis shook her head as she felt tears form. The voice was starting to seriously scare her and, after a moment of deciding, looked both ways before she crossed the street. Once she reached the other side, she walked up the staircase and up to the set of double doors. After a moment of hesitation, she slowly opened one of the doors and walked into the main hall.

Inside, there was a huge organ with a huge holy cross was above it, the carved figure of Christ carved out onto the cross. The tinted, colored windows were lined up on the right and left sides of the hall with the delicate, soothing images of Mary, Joseph, Angels, and Jesus printed into the glass. There were candles everywhere and at least twenty rows of seats on the right and left sides.

"Have you come to pray child?"

Alexis was startled and whirled around to see a priest standing behind her. The top of his head had no hair but the sides of his head did. The hair itself was an old white and his eyes were a soft, gentle blue. He had a white robe on with a black robe on top of the first on and he was clearly the priest.

"Do not be alarmed child. Do you have business here," he asked calmly stepping towards her.

Alexis nervously nodded her head. "Yes I do, father," she said with a worried tone in her voice.

The priest waved his hand and smiled at the young girl. "Please, do call me Father Ben," he replied as he put a hand on her shoulder.

Alexis sighed and nodded her head to the priest. "I'm doing a report for my semester project and I wanted to ask if I could do this church," Alexis stated as Father Ben smirked at her.

Taking his hand off her shoulder, he walked down the aisle and up to the organ. Alexis stood there where she was and watched him as he looked up at the giant cross. He said something quietly to himself before he turned back to Alexis.

"Come here, child."

Alexis hesitated for a moment but walked up to Father Ben. Once she was in front of him, he smiled at her.

"Have you also come about Starscream?"

Alexis gasped. Suddenly, even though she didn't hear it due to the state of shock she was in, the voice whispered back.

"_May Starscream save you…" _

"**Heaven vs. Hell"**

**By Shockbox**


	2. My Immortal

Shockbox: (grins at everyone) Another chapter for everyone! Woot! (hands out cookies to those who reviewed) And onto the next chapter. Transformers is not mine, blah, blah, blah. You understand my point when I say I don't own the TFs, right?

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**/You used to captivate me, by your resonating light/**

**/Now I'm bound by the life you left behind/**

**/Your face it haunts my once pleasant dreams/**

**/Your voice it chased away all the sanity in me/**

_My Immortal_ - Evanescence

**000**

_"...What?_ What did you say," Alexis gasped quietly. She was either hearing things or something wacky was up. Father Ben was looking at her with his blue eyes, still smiling.

"Have you also come about Starscream," the priest asked again.

Alexis felt tears building up in her eyes. She wasn't hearing things. This was the real deal. But how did he know about Starscream? She stepped cautiously towards the aged priest as her hazel eyes met his.

"How do you know about him? He's been dead for five years and no one _should _know of his existence."

Father Ben smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. "The Lord himself has told me many secrets. He told me a young girl fell in love with a young being that was killed in an attempt to save the universe. The girl was you, Alexis Banes, and the being was a robotic being Starscream. The Lord told me you would come on this day," he said, using his free hand to brush away some of her brown hair in her face.

"But how does The Lord know of him," Alexis asked. Father Ben smiled at her.

"Why, Starscream is with him."

Father Ben took his hand of the still shocked girl's shoulder as he walked away from her. Heading over to the left side of the main hall, he stopped and stood by the wall. Next to him was a sculpture of Christ. Alexis turned to see him as he turned his head to look at her. "Come, we have much to do."

"Wha-what do you mean?"

The priest smiled at her again seeing her confusion. The smile, in a way, bugged Alexis. She didn't know why, but it was like a fox's. It was like a small child in some fairy tale who gets lost and a fox offers to help her. Foxes were always fabled as being tricksters. The fox would take her to his den and, before she could run, would throw her in a pot, roast her, and then eat her. Although, this wasn't a fairy tale, and Alexis was too old for childish stories.

"Do you wish to bring him back to the living?" Ben asked Alexis, making her nearly jump in place.

"What!" Alexis shrieked as tears were starting to run down her face.

"Do you wish to bring him back to life?" Father Ben's tone and face remained unchanged. It was weird and he just watched Alexis try to absorb what he was saying.

More tears went down her face. She did love Starscream but something was telling her that something was very wrong. Very wrong. However, that didn't keep her from answering. After a moment of regaining her composure, she wiped some of the tears away with the back of her hand. "Yes, I would. I would like to bring him back."

Father Ben smiled. "It is done. Follow me," he said as he turned back to the wall by the sculpture. He felt the wall and grabbed a well concealed lever. He pulled it and a secret passage opened up. Ben, without another word, went down the dark passage and down the stairs.

Alexis said nothing but followed Ben into the dark passage. As the door closed behind her and the priest, she felt nervous. It was pitch black and she couldn't see anything.

"Where are we going," Alexis asked as they descended down the darkened shaft.

Then she saw a bright light at the end of the tunnel. They then stepped into a small room with a sky light in the ceiling. The walls were painted a light blue, the carpet was a cream color and there were curtains that probably lead into another room in the wall in front of her. She guessed that the room was somewhere behind the main church underground.

"Here we are," Father Ben said as he went over to the curtain and pulled it back.

Alexis followed him into another room filled with so many candles it wasn't even funny. The faint light from the small sticks of fire flickered in the room and danced off the walls in shadows and light. The walls were painted black and the carpet was a dark red. In the middle of the room was a table with a fancy red pillow on it.

"The stone," Ben asked as he held out a hand to Alexis.

"What?"

"Do you have the emerald stone," He asked again.

Alexis took off the stone necklace she was wearing under her shirt. She never took it off so it felt weird not wearing it. The dim light from the lit candles made the stone shine, the reflection of her face and the fire from the candles dancing on the mirror like surface.

"You mean this," she asked the aged priest showing him the emerald stone.

"Yes, that," he said before he took the stone necklace from her and set it on the pillow.

"Why do you need my stone," Alexis asked pointing at her necklace.

"It has powers beyond mine child," Ben said as he pulled out a Bible and turned to the page with Jesus on it.

"Look here," Father Ben said as he pointed at the emerald stone necklace around Jesus' neck.

"Is that what I think it is," Alexis said stunned. Father Ben nodded.

"It's the same stone that you found on Cybertron. The same stone that you dropped in Unicron. The same stone that cracked when Starscream died. It belonged to the son of God. It belonged to Jesus Christ."

"How did his stone end up with me then?" Alexis asked still not able to believe that the stone necklace actually belonged to the one and only Jesus Christ.

"Fate chose you to have the stone next. It was destiny," Father Ben said as he put a hand on Alexis' shoulder.

"This stone contains all of Jesus' and God's power. With it we can revive your loved one Starscream." He said as he took his hand off the girl's shoulder and turned the Bible to a different page.

On it was all these words that looked like they were in a different langue. "Let us hold hands," Father Ben said as he held out a hand to Alexis.

Alexis did as she was told and took the man's hand. He then began to read from the book in English so Alexis could understand.

"Algeles woil ne onetcvom nuiy Demoneas. Hell woil nokia jiouyt dustuoi alio oin iy'tsy guyio. Heaven woil pureion deib hte fuahek ig Hell. Si frmpn reip feroiu ndjsal ruibjk uiod reo jdskal eiod skui diooa jdal. Si nsyyoe woil vpjirmve. Heaven skmomdt Hell!"

Suddenly, a huge gust of wind rushed through the room and all the candles went out. Alexis screamed and Father Ben just stood there like nothing was happening. Then the wind died down and it was quiet. Smoke rose from the candles where they once burned.

"It is done. The request has been accepted," Ben replied as he started out of the room.

"What about Starscream? Where is he," Alexis asked confused since she couldn't see him anywhere.

"His spirit needs time to be reborn. Then his body. Then he will emerge from this place alive and well but as a human. But first we must leave this room." Father Ben said.

Alexis followed him out of the room and Father Ben pulled back the curtain.

"Come back tomorrow and we will check on him. For now, go home and get some rest," Ben said.

"Father Ben. I want to ask you something," Alexis asked Father Ben.

"What do you wish to know?"

"Why did you choose to help me?"

Father Ben's smile finished from his face quicker that Megatron used to call retreats in a battle. Alexis, in a way, missed going with the Autobots into their battles. It was fun to help them out. But the way the smile vanished was odd.

"B-because, G-G-God has asked me to. Now, run along d-dear Alexis," Father Ben said shakily.

Alexis noticed the nervous tone in his voice. Somewhat suspicious. The image of the fox came back to her mind as she thought of the little girl in the fairy tale being eaten by the orange mammal. Still, after a moment of hesitation, so she hugged him.

"Thank you so much," She said before she turned around and started out the room.

Then a smile returned to Ben's face. Not a happy, soft smile he gave Alexis though. A cruel smile appeared on his face this time. The kind of smile the fox would wear when he tricked the little girl into coming to his den.

"My plan is working perfectly," Father Ben sneered as he turned to look at the curtain. "The stone is mine and with it I can now revive the one that will give me even more power than God himself. When my little friend behind the curtain is living I can destroy the only one in my way. Alexis."

He then walked into the room behind the curtain and took the stone necklace. He put it around his neck and put the body of a dead pigeon in its place, it's feather's matted and it's open eyes staring blankly into nothing. "You will soon be with that freak you love. You will soon die a painful death just like him..."

**000**

Alexis made it out of the church and rushed home. It was now dark and raining outside. She took a shortcut to her place so she wouldn't catch a cold if she stayed in the weather too long. She wanted to feel her best for when she went to the church the next day. She ran up to the door of small house and knocked on it. A dog started barking loudly with excitement and the door opened. An old woman wearing an apron was standing in the doorway.

"Alexis, sweetie, what happened? I thought you were going to the library so I was thinking you'd be home by 6:00. When you didn't come home, I called your friend Bradley to see where you were. He said you should be home so I got worried. Where were you," the old woman asked.

"Sorry Gram. I went to that old church to get some information for my report and it took longer than it should have," Alexis said as she gave her grandma a big hug.

"Well, let's not stand in the rain. Come in sweetie," Gram said as she stood to the side and Alexis walked into the house.

Suddenly, a huge German shepherd came out of nowhere and ran up to Alexis. The huge dog had it's pink tongue hanging out of it's mouth as it swung it's tail around wildly, happy to see her. It had dark brown and black fur, an orange collar with beautiful gemstones on it, and it's sharp teeth displayed in it's mouth. It looked like it would be dangerous if provoked into a temper, but, for the most part, it seemed like a friendly dog as it ran up to Alexis. The brunette teenager keeled down and rubbed behind the dog's ears and scratched it's head.

"Hi Mars! How ya doing boy," Alexis said as she finished scratching her dog and stood up. She rubbed the top of his head again and his ears flopped around as she rubbed. Mars barked happily, wagged his tail faster, and licked at her hand. Alexis smiled at Mars' playfulness. He may have been five years old but he still acted like a puppy.

"That collar you made for that dog is so lovely. You're such an artist. Now, if you need me I'll be in the kitchen making dinner," Gram said as she went into the other room.

Alexis never did tell her grandma, but the stones on Mars' collar were actually from the Mars rock Starscream brought back to Earth after a mission he went on with Jetfire. After Starscream died, she wanted to get a dog for the longest time. She bought a plain collar at the store and smashed the Mars rock with a hammer. She glued the fragments of the stone to the collar to make it look a pretty as it could be. She went to the shelter the next day and adopted a dog that was going to be put to sleep the same day. And in honor of Starscream's trip, she named the dog Mars.

"Oh honey, I almost forgot. Your boyfriend called today. You should call him back," Gram said from the kitchen.

Alexis groaned as she turned around and went upstairs with Mars following her. She liked her boyfriend when she first met him but after awhile she tried to dump him. He wouldn't let her. He constantly blackmailed, swore, and threatened her if she talked about leaving him. She went into her room. It had a queen size bed, a computer and stereo station, and a TV. On her bedside table was a phone. She took it and dialed her boyfriend's number and prepared herself for the worst.

**000**

"You _bastard!_ I fucking _hate_ you!"

After just under a minute, Alexis cried out in frustration as she threw the phone across the room. Jake, her boyfriend, had cussed her out and threatened to kill her because Alexis didn't call him back. Alexis hated him. She thought he was right for her at first but, after awhile, he turned abusive. She wanted out but couldn't find the strength in herself to do it. After Stars died, she became softer and harder to break.

Alexis threw herself down onto the bed and cried as hard as she could into one of the pillows. Mars stayed by the bed and waited for her to get up. Then she got up and reached under her pillow and took out a picture of Starscream. She missed him so much.

"Starscream, please come back and save me," She said as she fell asleep. The picture fell silently to the floor and Mars looked down at it. After several moments, the dog lied down in front of the picture and fell asleep.


	3. The End Of Heartache

Shockbox: And now we bring in Thundercracker and Skywarp sneaking around. Can anything else ensure more chaos than that? (grins) Transformers aren't mine still. Don't sue please. If you do, you won't get any money anyways...

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**/This distance, this dissolution/**

**/I cling to memories while falling/**

**/Sleep brings release, and the hope of a new day/**

**/Waking the misery of being without you/**

_The End of Heartache_ - Killswitch Engage

**000**

On the Cybertron city edges of Iacon, a relatively small ship flew towards the main Autobot base. The ship was a light deep purple color with a bright red Autobot insignia on the side. The shuttle itself was obviously not a battle craft, but it looked as though it would be for everyday transport use. Oddly enough though, there were burn marks from laser fire on the ship's sides. And whoever said the ship was being piloted by Autobots? In the cockpit there two Decepticon soldiers, one in the pilot's seat and the other in the passenger seat beside him.

The one in the passenger seat had a purple and black paint job with dashes of yellowish gold and white here and there. His optics were a bright yellow along with the long cockpit on his chest, indicating his body frame was a jet of some kind. His wings were a long and triangular shape with bold Decepticon insignias on each wing. A Decepticon Seeker no doubt. His grey face gave the impression that he was still a young and a not-so-matured jet. However, the cannons on his back and small, purple jet Minicon sitting on his lap might give other bots another, much more deadly impression.

He was reclined in his chair with his feet on the dashboard, on leg crossed over the other, and hands behind his head, in a relaxed position. He turned his head to the second bot beside him. "Are you sure this is safe," the purple and black Decepticon mech asked the pilot in the seat beside him with a questioning look on his grey colored face.

The pilot in question looked identical to the bot beside him except his paintjob was blue and red with silver and black highlights. His optics were a ghostly silver, almost white color and his face was bright red. The other thing that stood out other than his face and optics was his cockpit, which was a bright yellow. His wings, like the other mech, were long and triangular in shape, a Decepticon insignia on each wing. He was currently scowling and staring strait ahead into the windshield, obviously annoyed with the purple and black bot. He seemed to be much more mature and he had a blue and black Minicon that looked like it became a car on his shoulder.

"You asked me that three times already! Now shut up or I'll have Zapmaster here teach you a lesson," the pilot said in a thick southern accent mentioning to the Minicon on his shoulder. The said human sized bot beeped in response.

The purple bot frowned at the other mech's response and, after a quick breeze like sound, suddenly disappeared from sight. The Minicon that was in his lap fell onto the seat aft first and, after a brief moment, began beeping loudly in annoyance, flailing his arms in the air. The pilot looked beside him to see the bot was gone.

Suddenly, that breeze like hum sounded again and someone gripped the pilot's shoulder that his Minicon wasn't perched on. The bot snapped his head to look over his shoulder to see the purple mech. The red faced Seeker growled in irritation at the bot grinning down at him.

"Skywarp, what have I told you about teleporting in the ship! It distracts me from flying this thing! Do you want us to crash!"

Skywarp, the purple and black Decepticon, continued to grin down at the pilot with bright yellow optics. "Aw, don't be such a party popper, TC. Starscream's more fun than you," he said walking over to his seat again. He picked up the small Minicon, who stopped fuming at this point, and sat back down, placing the small robot in his lap again. He then turned his head back to the pilot. "I'm just worried, Thundercracker, that's all. We're just two Decepticons heading into the middle of major Autobot turf. I know the Great Minicon War is over and all but the Autobots and Decepticons still fight with each other. We'll be outnumbered if they decide to attack us."

Thundercracker, the pilot, turned his head to Skywarp slightly. "That's why were stole this ship, ya idiot! No Autobot would be dumb enough to open fire on a ship with their faction symbol on it!"

"But what if those Autobots we snagged this thing from warn the Autobots in Iacon about us? They'll give the ship's identification codes, description, and everything! They'll know Decepticons are on this thing and shot us down before we have enough time to find Screamer," Skywarp retorted, his Minicon on his lap beeping loudly in agreement. Skywarp turned his attention back to the small bot and frowned. "Thunderclash, stay out of this."

The two bots and their Minicons were heading towards Iacon for their own reasons. Some Decepticons split up after Galvatron was swallowed by Unicron, forming their own mini gangs and/or organizations. Thundercracker and Skywarp, along with their Minicons they found not long after the Unicron Battles on Cybertron, Zapmaster and Thunderclash, were not part of these groups at all. All they wanted was to find their middle brother, Starscream.

The three Seekers were brothers, Thundercracker the eldest, Starscream in the middle, and Skywarp the youngest. They heard rumors that Starscream had died and they refused to believe that. Another rumor was that he joined up with the Autobots. Unsure of what was the truth, the two found it best to ask the Autobots in person. It would be much better to find he was an Autobot then to find out he was dead, which they were sure he wasn't. He was too strong for that.

The problem was getting close enough to an Autobot to ask. TC and Sky had a record longer than most Decepticons, almost longer than Starscream's. They were famed for ship jacking, robbery, breaking an entry, file hacking, and other crimes. Because of their relationship with Starscream, they were also well known amongst the Autobot ranks.

Thundercracker turned to Skywarp after a few minutes to see his brother in his relaxed position again, his legs on the dashboard crossed over each other. His hands this time though were sitting on his lap with his Minicon, Thunderclash. His yellow optics were offline and it was impossible to tell if he was really sleeping or not, seeing that Skywarp rarely snored.

"Hey, Skywarp?"

The Seeker turned his yellow optics on again and turned his attention to Thundercracker. The look on his face had softened as he looked over to his younger sibling. "What is it," Skywarp said seeing the look on his older brother's face.

"Do you think Starscream really did die?"

Skywarp bolted to full attention as he took his legs off the dashboard and sat up. This question was expected to come sooner or later but the two hoped they would never have to ask. Skywarp, after a moment's hesitation, sighed. "I'll be honest, I don't know. I hope he's not."

There was another moment of quiet before Thundercracker broke the silence. "We're here, he said as he switched several controls on the overhead above him and steadied the ship. Skywarp and Thunderclash, who climbed up to Skywarp's shoulder, looked out the front window.

Iacon was a huge city. During the Minicon War and other wars on Cybertron, most of the time it belonged to the Decepticons. After Galvatron met his fate though, the Decepticons were unable to hang onto the city and the Autobots took control. It had been pretty bad off before, but the Autobots had rebuilt it, just like the rest of Cybertron. The whole planet was much better off without the constant war. It gave time for the toxic fumes in the air to be replaced with oxygen, organic live like plants to form again, and a clean atmosphere to top it all off. The two Cybertronian suns, Ronalian and Hikautia, were now visible in the sky again after thousands of years when before all you saw were stars and clouds.

Iacon looked beautiful at this time of day. Transformers were walking amongst the streets with their vibrant paintjobs, and the structures, with their light shining off them giving them an almost white color, were huge, some towering over what seemed like the whole city itself. However, the tallest structure was the Autobot base, where the two Seekers were headed.

"Wow," Skywarp breathed. "I remember Iacon was beautiful but not like this."

Thundercracker nodded. He then turned his attention back to landing. They pulled the ship over to the landing port of the Autobot base. Seeing that it was the tallest tower in the city, landing it shouldn't have been a problem. They were still high above the landing area part of the structure because the ship was a hover car, meaning it had to land slowly descending downwards because the ship had no landing wheels.

Skywarp noticed several Autobots gathering outside the port and got nervous, seeing some of them had weapons. Then he saw an Autobot walk out with a huge weapon in his hands and Thunderclash beeped loudly. Skywarp snapped his head to Thundercracker.

"Thundercracker, they have the RequiemBlaster and a welcoming comity!"

Thundercracker looked out the windshield just in time to see the barrel of the Minicon super weapon fire up and a beam of purple, almost white, energy shot up at their ship. The beam of energy ripped through the ship with ease as several warning lights began blinking on the pilot's overhead. They could feel the ship loosing altitude as Skywarp snapped his head to Thundercracker.

"I told you this would happen!"

Thundercracker was too busy to notice as he grabbed the controls and yanked back on them in an attempt to regain control over the ship. It failed to work as the ship began to head into a nosedive. Thundercracker turned to Skywarp. "We have to get out of this thing or we're done!"

The blue Seeker jumped from his seat and grabbed onto his Minicon, Zapmaster. Skywarp did the same as he got up from his seat and followed Thundercracker with Thunderclash clinging onto his arm. Thundercracker reached the emergency hatch and tried to kick it open. He only made a small dent in the door and he cursed loudly in frustration. Skywarp then pushed Thundercracker out of the way.

"Thunderclash, Powerlink!" The purple Minicon jet abruptly transformed into his vehicle mode and attached himself to a port on Skywarp's back. His purple and black cannons snapped forward and sat on his shoulders. A purple energy formed in the barrel of the two cannons and Skywarp stepped back slightly. "Dead Ray Blast!"

The shot of energy ripped through the door like paper and, without another exchange of words, the two Seekers jumped from the crashing ship. Just as they jumped out, the ship exploded in a mass of flame and debris as the two fell down towards the landing station. Skywarp looked over his shoulder and gulped as he realized that could have been them. "That was a close one," Sky mused as Thundercracker clenched his teeth.

"This might be even closer!"

The bot with the RequiemBlaster was a green, black, and silver color with a frame making him look as if he transformed into a plow of some kind. His bright yellow eyes flashed as he charged up the Minicon weapon again and fired. Skywarp teleported out of the way and Thundercracker threw himself to the side to prevent himself from getting hit by the lethal blast. Thundercracker's ghostly optics narrowed and he spread his arms apart. "Sonic Boom!" He clapped his hands together and a wave of noise sped down at the bot with the super weapon. It hit him square in the chest and threw him backwards, the weapon flying from his hands and landing several meters behind him. The bot landed headfirst into the ground and skidded a few feet before stopping. Energon formed on the right corner of his mouth and it was obvious he was unconscious.

Thundercracker landed feet first onto the ground and Skywarp rematerialized beside him. The two got into a fighting stance as another bot grabbed the RequiemBlaster. The bot was blue and silver with orange highlights, had a battle mask covering his face, a looked like a sports car. His red optics glared at the two Seekers while, behind him, another bot came up beside the plow truck Thundercracker hit moments earlier, obviously a medic. He had an orange and silver paintjob, had a silver visor over his eyes, and looked as though he was an ambulance.

Skywarp looked behind him and realized that the Autobots were all in front of them and not surrounding them. He also noticed the two other Minicon weapons. He and Thundercracker along with the other Decepticons had heard of the Minicon weapons and had seen them in photographs but never in person. And, in Skywarp's case, he liked them better when they were harmless photos.

The StarSaber was in the hands of a bot with a red paintjob with orange flames lined with silver. His face was a bright yellow; he had blue optics, a black visor sitting above his eyes, and looked like a sports car. The bot that had the SkyBoom shield was a white, blue, and black crane like bot with orange highlights. He had blue face, red eyes, and a huge crane arm.

Skywarp turned his head to Thundercracker and grinned. "This is gonna be fun."

The bot with the StarSaber charged at Thundercracker with a cry and the blue Decepticon smirked, reaching over his left shoulder. Zapmaster transformed into his vehicle mode and attached himself to a connection port on his arm so he wouldn't fall off as the bottom part of his wing came off revealing a handle for something. TC grabbed it and pulled his wing off, the wing unfolding into a sword. It began to glow bright red and Thundercracker lunged at the Autobot. Their swords connected and Thundercracker suddenly pulled his sword away and threw himself to the side. The Autobot with the StarSaber fell forward and Thundercracker, seizing his chance to strike, brought his sword down onto the bot's back.

The bot fell forward and the StarSaber almost fell from his grip. Another bot came into Thundercracker's view, obviously younger mech than Skywarp and the bot he just took out with the Minicon sword. He had blue and silver in his paintjob with bright yellow optics and looked like he turned into a car. "Hotshot, bro, are you alright?"

Thundercracker, then lunged at that bot, sword brought down by his hip to run the new Autobot through. The Autobot, Hotshot, looked up quickly with his blue eyes. "Sideswipe, watch it!"

Sideswipe, the one TC was about ready to kill, threw himself to the ground and Thundercracker missed him, running strait into the bot with the RequiemBlaster.

Skywarp meanwhile, was attacked by another bot. He had a red face that was covered mostly by a gold faceplate. He was white in color with black highlights and it looked like he became a space shuttle. His gold eyes flashed angrily and Skywarp backed away from him. He drew his own sword, like Thundercracker's, but it was a light purple. Gnashing his teeth together, he charged at the bot and slammed his sword into his side. The Autobot yelled out in pain and fury as he grabbed Skywarp's arm and twisted.

"Slag, let me go!"

Skywarp brought his knee up to the Autobot's stomach and kicked him as hard as he could. The Autobot immediately let go and Skywarp, having the wind knocked out of him, and Skywarp saw his chance to get in a better fighting advantage. He teleported suddenly and the bot looked around in panic and confusion just before Skywarp materialized behind him.

"Death Ray Cannon," Sky screamed as the purple energy formed in the barrel of his shoulder weapons. The Autobot looked just in tome to see the blast hit him full force in the back. He sprawled out onto the ground just as the one with the Minicon shield saw his friend unconscious.

"Jetfire!"

Skywarp turned to the bot with the shield and charged with his sword in hand. He teleported again and reappeared in front of the bot. He raised his sword for a deadly blow to the head but the bot raised the shield and blocked, sparks from the sword and shield flying between the colliding weapons. Growling, the Autobot swung his huge crane arm and hit Skywarp square in the head.

"Hey, Hoist, do you need a hand?" The Autobot medic and plow truck like Transformer, ran up to their friend with the SkyboomShield and smirked at him. Hoist just smirked back.

"Not really, Redalert," he said referring to the medic. He turned to the green, black, and silver one. "Scavenger, are you okay?"

Scavenger seemed to growl at Hoist's question. "I'm fine but my pride is banged up pretty bad. I just got knocked unconscious by noise or whatever the Pit that was."

Hoist nodded and turned back to the Decepticon Seeker. When he looked however, he was gone. "Slag it! He must've teleported again!"

A split second later, Skywarp reappeared behind Redalert and grabbed a space between his neck and shoulders. Red's optic's dimmed and he collapsed just as Scavenger and Hoist turned to see him fall face first into the ground, Skywarp standing behind him with a mischievous smirk. "Oops, did I do that?"

Thundercracker's fist connected with the right cheek of the Autobot holding the RequiemBlaster. He grunted in pain as the glass part of his battle mask over his eyes cracked. The other bots, Sideswipe and Hotshot, ran up to help.

"Hey, Blurr, do ya need a hand with this looser," Hotshot called throwing a punch at Thundercracker who dodged.

Hotshot clenched his sword in his hands as Blurr's optics flashed in irritation. "Hotshot, this is my battle," he growled as Hotshot swung his StarSaber at Thundercracker who just kept on stepping to the opposite side of the blade.

"Who the Pit are you calling a looser," Thundercracker hissed before he jumped back several feet. "Zapmaster, Powerlink!"

Zapmaster disconnected from the port on the blue Seeker's arm and connected between his cannons on his back. The cannons snapped forward and a purple energy formed in the barrel on the cannons. "Thunder Cannon!" The blast from the cannon blasted a point between Hotshot, Sideswipe, and Blurr, sending them flying backwards in different directions, scorching the ground and leaving a small crater in the ground where the cannon hit.

Hotshot managed to hang onto the StarSaber but The RequiemBlaster fell from Blurr's grasp and skidded along the ground. Thundercracker smirked cruelly and lunged forward at the defenseless Autobots. He raised his red gleaming sword high above his head to strike Blurr but Sideswipe threw his foot underneath the jet. Thundercracker tripped and sprawled out onto the ground.

Sideswipe stood up and attacked. Thundercracker, however, twisted his body around so he was on his back. He brought both his feet up and kicked the bot with full force in the head. Energon spattered out of the young Autobot's mouth as he fell backwards, offline from the impact as he hit the ground.

Skywarp was having issues of his own as Scavenger and Hoist lunged at him. Skywarp teleported again but Scavenger sharply turned on his heel. As Skywarp reappeared, he came face to face with Scavenger who grabbed him and twisted his wrist. Skywarp yelped loudly in surprise more than pain as his sword dropped from his hand and fell to the ground with a clang. The purple light from the sword dimmed and Skywarp looked down at it with bright yellow optics, realizing he was in trouble.

Hoist suddenly grabbed him from behind and wrapped his free, huge hoist arm around his waist. Skywarp struggled to get free but couldn't as their grip was too tight. Unable to teleport because he was thinking about struggling too much, futilely tried to escape the mechs' grasp. Abruptly, Scavenger let go of you young Decepticon's arm and punched him twice in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. Skywarp gagged as his yellow cockpit shattered and Energon forced itself up into his throat and mouth. Coughing out of control, Skywarp lost all awareness and fell limp, his Minicon ripped from it's port between his cannons and his cannons folding back.

Thunderclash beeped in protest as Scavenger held him in a tight fist. He had transformed into robot-mode and flailed his arms around in an attempt to escape and help his master. Skywarp was too dazed to notice as he stood there breathing harshly, the two Autobots gripping him tightly.

Thundercracker heard his brother's yelp and snapped his head towards where Skywarp was. Seeing his brother hostage, Thundercracker snarled and charged at the Autobots. "Let him go!"

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Autobot Blurr pick up the RequiemBlaster. Suspecting to be shot, Thundercracker mentally froze but continued to run at the Autobots and his brother. Oddly, the Autobot gave it to someone. Sharply turning on his heel, Thundercracker turned and, with sheer horror, saw who had the weapon. OptimusPrime, the leader of the Autobots was charging at him with the deadly weapon in hand. The Autobot commander's paintjob was different than he remembered it though. He had only seen him from far away during battles and in photos but never in person like the Minicon weapons.

The Autobot commander's paintjob was dark blue, silver, and red. Not much of a difference there. However, the colors were rearranged. His faceplate, instead of white, was red. His head was dark blue with red details and his optics were bright crimson. His legs had some details of blue and red but were mostly silver. The truck cab on his back for his vehicle-mode was red with some dark blue and small amounts of silver.

Thundercracker attacked the leader of the Autobots and lifted his sword to the side, preparing to strike when the commander was close enough. Crimson optics flashed as Optimus pivoted away from the blade. The blue Seeker gasped as he went right past Prime, now having his back turned to the supreme Autobot commander. Optimus slammed the RequiemBlaster barrel on the Seeker's back and Thundercracker lost his balance and fell forward. He landed on his stomach and, quickly thinking, rolled off the right. Standing hastily, he turned back to the Autobot commander.

"Eat this, Autobrat! Thunder cannon!"

The blast of purple energy sped at OptimusPrime. Optimus' optics narrowed as he jumped out of the way at the last possible second. Thundercracker gapped at the Autobot's speed. "What! How is that possible!" Thundercracker suddenly saw the Prime's trailer, the same color as the Optimus, roll out of nowhere and sheer terror filled him when he realized Optimus' intentions.

"OptimusPrime! Super Mode!"

The trailer opened up and formed into the lower half of a body. Optimus let go of the RequiemBlaster as his body transformed into the upper half of his Super Mode. The two halves fused and the RequiemBlaster flew into the Prime's hands. Optimus glared at Thundercracker with crimson optics and advanced on the Seeker.

Thundercracker let out a battle cry as he lunged forward. Optimus, oddly enough, aimed the deadly Minicon weapon at someone other than Thundercracker. Optimus was still looking at him with those crimson eyes that made him look more hostile than Galvatron or Starscream, as if waiting for something. He stopped and followed the weapon's gaze and an even more sheer sudden horror filled him as he saw the weapon was trained at Skywarp.

His brother was starting to come back to reality as he stared at the ground blankly and Thunderclash beeped and bleeped in protest to being in Scavenger's grip. In the background, he also saw the Autobot shuttle, Jetfire, get up slowly and go over to Redalert, who was also recovering. The other Autobots, Hotshot, Blurr, and Sideswipe, were also advancing on him.

He was surrounded. He was outnumbered. And he wasn't in the mood to get killed along with his brother.

Silently, he gave the mental signal for Zapmaster to link off. The Minicon disconnected himself from the port on Thundercracker's back as his Thunder cannons snapped backwards. The Minicon transformed and landed next to him as Thundercracker threw his sword to the ground in surrender and defeat.

"Alright, you win. Touch Skywarp and I'll kill you with my bare hands," Thundercracker hissed as Optimus advanced on him, aiming the weapon at his head. When he was close enough, he pushed the barrel of the weapon at Thundercracker's head.

Thundercracker panted heavily as the barrel of the RequiemBlaster pressed against his forehead. Optimus wasn't glaring at him, but he was intensely staring at him with those yellow eyes. Mech fluids poured down his face as the leader of the Autobots studied him. After a brief moment, Optimus' eyes brightened and he lowered his weapon. Thundercracker made a mental sigh of relief. Yet, it made no sense. He and Skywarp had attacked them and they had every right to kill him and his brother.

"Optimus, what are you doing? He and that other guy tried to kill us," Hotshot shouted from a few yards back. Optimus sent him a glare and turned back to Thundercracker, his ghostly silver eyes trained at the RequiemBlaster and Prime.

"Why? Why are you sparing us?"

Optimus' facial expressions seemed to become more friendly and sad at the same time. "Unlike other Decepticons, you were willing to surrender in fearing I would shot your friend. And, onto serious matters, are you, by any chance, relatives of the Air Commander Starscream?"

Thundercracker snapped to attention and Skywarp looked up in surprise. The other Autobots were gaping in shock. "Optimus, what in the Pit are you talking about," Scavenger said as Optimus turned to him, his optics looks softened and Thundercracker saw he no longer looked hostile. He was ashamed for earlier comparing him to Galvatron and his middle brother.

"Scavenger, I know it's been a long time and we forget what people look like but these two look almost exactly like Starscream."

Scavenger and Hoist looked at each other and then at the two Seekers. Thundercracker and Skywarp both were unsure of what was happening and why the Autobots had a connection with Starscream. Maybe he did join the Autobots. But then, why did Prime say we forget what people look like? Was Starscream missing? Was he… No. Thundercracker shook his head just as Optimus gave his men the order to release Skywarp and his Minicon, Thunderclash. The two purple jets went over to Thundercracker and Zapmaster as Optimus turned back to them.

"I apologize for earlier. We received word from a docking station that an Autobot vessel was stolen by two Seekers and was heading for Iacon. Now, if you can answer my question, are you related to Starscream?"

Thundercracker and Skywarp looked at each other and then turned back to Optimus. The whole situation was strange enough. "Yes, he's our brother. My name is Thundercracker with my Minicon Zapmaster and this is my brother Skywarp with Thunderclash. We heard rumors that our brother was with you. We also heard he died. We figured we could ask you in person but you attacked us so attacked back in self defense."

"Yeah, where is Stars anyways," Skywarp asked hopefully with his bright yellow optics glowing.

Optimus' expression changed to sad as the Autobots around him turned their heads away from the Seekers, not daring to look to their faces. Even Hotshot had a sad look to him as Thundercracker gulped. Skywarp had a fearful look to him as asked again. "Where is he?"

Optimus was silent for a moment before he looked over his shoulder at Jetfire. Jetfire ran inside the base to get something and came out several moments later with a red and black Minicon that looked almost identical to Zapmaster aside the paintjob and a sword. Jetfire gave the Minicon and sword to Optimus and looked up at the two Seekers.

"This is Swindle. He was Starscream's Minicon during the Minicon battles. This was also Starscream's sword. You were right about Starscream becoming an Autobot, but that was only half of the story. He rejoined the Decepticons after and became torn between the two factions. He had a hard time choosing between good or evil. Apparently, he could choose neither. When Unicron attacked Cybertron, Starscream was desperate to convince Galvatron to join the Autobots to destroy Unicron. To show just how dangerous Unicron was to all of us and to make his point clear, he Powerlinked with Swindle and used his Proton Cannon to try to attack Unicron," Optimus said as Thundercracker and Skywarp looked from Optimus, to Swindle, to the sword, and then to each other.

"What happened," Thundercracker asked turning back to Optimus with a saddened look. Optimus continued.

"Unicron attacked back. Starscream linked off with Swindle and was still able to use his Proton Cannon without linking up to a Minicon. Myself and my men think his spirit and determination was able to keep him going. But a lightning strike of energy from Unicron hit Starscream and… And it destroyed him. Not even ashes remained of his body. All that was left was Swindle, his sword, and a crater in the ground."

Skywarp immediately turned around and threw his head into Thundercracker's chest, sobbing. Thundercracker stood there gaping for a moment before tears formed into the corners of his eyes. He refused to cry but what else was he supposed to do. His brother was dead. He, Skywarp, and the other Decepticons during the Unicron Battles heard of an Autobot that convinced Galvatron to join the Autobots, but no one knew who he was because of all the commotion and panic going on. Finding out that it was Starscream, his brother that cared for no one other than himself, was considered a hero, was almost as shocking as finding out he was dead. His vision blurred from the moisture building up in his silver optics and embraced Skywarp, tightly hugging the Seeker as the tears finally rolled down the Decepticon's face in a long time.

"Slagging bastard," Thundercracker mused barley auditable over his younger brother's cries. Zapmaster and Thunderclash had sad looks to them and stared down at the ground by their masters' feet. Optimus put a hand on Skywarp's shoulder.

"I'm sorry. He gave his life to insure the safety of the universe. If not for him, Unicron would have destroyed Cybertron and the rest of the universe. Now, if you want me to, I can fill you in on more details inside the base."

Skywarp stopped crying for a moment and looked up at Thundercracker. The red faced Seeker nodded and looked back up to Optimus. He took Swindle and Starscream's sword that Prime was offering and slowly nodded his head.

"...Thanks Prime."


	4. Addicted

Shockbox: Frankly, and without a doubt, the longest chapter of this entire fic so far. (grins) And nearly two years since I last updated. I apoligize for that. Hopefully, it won't ever happen again. Anywho, Transformers are owned by Hasbro and not me. I only own the plot. Ladies and gents, boys and girls, squeaking guinea pigs and evil dust bunnies, I present 31 pages of the fourth chapter of _Heaven vs. Hell!_ And please, feedback is much loved!

* * *

**/It's like you're a drug/**

**/It's like you're a demon I can't face down/**

**/It's like I'm stuck/**

**/It's like I'm running from you all the time/**

_Addicted_ - Kelly Clarkson

**000**

"_Starscream, no!"_

_Starscream paid no attention to Optimus Prime as he ripped the blue Minicon sword from his chest and threw it to the side. Energon and mech fluids drained from the fatal wound as red sparks danced around his chest as though performing in a funeral ballet, his spark displaying for all to see. His silver optics flashed as he bit back an agonized scream. The pain was unbearable but it would soon be over, to be replaced by the seductive embrace of eternal recharge. He knew he was going to die but the thought didn't stop him. If he failed in death, others would take his place. He turned to the sky and glared up at the chaos bringer, Unicron. _

"_It's time to finish this once and for all! Activate Proton Cannon!"_

_His dying emerald spark--like the stone Alexis wore around her neck--began to glow._

_The blue and black Minicon Swindle, knowing this was what his master wanted, transformed into his dragster alternate-mode and linked up with the dying Decepticon. Starscream's cannons snapped forward and the purple energy began to build in the barrels of his weapon._

"_You're mine Unicron!"_

_The purple twin blasts of his deadly weapon exploded from the barrels of his weapons and shot up at Unicron with amazing speed and power. To Galvatron's and Optimus Prime's amazement, his injuries didn't weaken his Proton Cannon. No. His cannons were _stronger_. So strong in fact, Starscream began to get pushed into the ground and crushed under the recoil. The metal ground began to buckle and crack under the sheer force as Starscream stood there, glaring up at the demonic god with dying silver optics and determination. The warrior was staying strong however and Galvatron couldn't believe he didn't see that before._

_And it was too late for him to finally give the Seeker favor for that wasn't it?_

_The Seeker was beyond help now. Starscream screamed in anger, fury, and pain, throwing his arms out to the side and arching his back as Swindle abruptly linked off from him. Instead of his cannons folding backwards and dying of energy without the Minicon's extra power, the blast of the purple beam kept on going. Oh _no_. It didn't stop at all. It only got _stronger.

_The static electricity that had dancing around the planet eater's frame and striking Cybertron in lighting suddenly stopped for a brief moment. Then, like a single bullet from a pistol or caliber gun, a huge bolt of lightning from the dark god shot down from the sky and sped at none other than the only _somewhat_ threatening mech._

_The emerald stone necklace cracked as the reflective surface of the stone fractured. Just like Starscream's dying spark._

_The blast of white light from Unicron hit Starscream with full force. The ground the Seeker was ripped apart and the night sky became brighter than any day. Optimus and Galvatron both were too stunned as to what was happening to cover their optics. Starscream's beam of purple energy finally stopped pouring out from his cannons and, now helpless and with nothing left to do, he screamed._

_Alexis watched in pure horror as her star was slowly being killed. Then, as Starscream's gaze fell on her, she suddenly felt her heart, figuratively mind you, abruptly ripped out of her chest. He was her friend and now he was gone. _

_Suddenly, Starscream's whole body began to crumble. Nothing happened to Alexis, who was just feet in front of him, because none of this was real. It was only a nightmare. A reoccurring nightmare that wouldn't go away. No matter how many times she saw this brutal scene and knew it was in the past, she always couldn't help but cry at the very end._

_The Seeker's lively, always glowing silver--once a beautiful shade of amber she also remembered from when she first saw him--optics dimmed to a lifeless grey and his head rolled backwards, staring up at Unicron as if daring the monster to give him more. His spark was extinguished as she watched it burn out and die inside his chest. He _died_ right there at that very moment. His body went limp; still standing as the rest of his corpse was cremated._

_The last the poor human teen could see was Starscream's blast of purple energy, a twin beam of purple light, die out and disappear as it came nearly a few miles from hitting their target, Unicron. The blast of white light began to intensify and all that was there disappeared from sight. Alexis covered her eyes from the intense light as she stood there._

_Starscream was Alexis' friend. Starscream was her friend. He was her friend. He was… Man's best friend? _

**000**

Alexis snapped her eyes open and gasped silently. She was tucked into bed and the bright light from outside shone through the window and hit her eyes. Snapping her hazel eyes shut, the brunette sat up and rubbed them groggily with the back of her hand.

That nightmare wasn't uncommon for her to have. She began to have it after she begged Optimus to let her watch the footage Laserbeak took during Starscream's demise. Eventually, because it was right for her to know the truth, Optimus gave her the recorded disk and let her watch it. Watching him get run through the chest with the StarSaber, the sword that used to be his, made her cry. Watching him actually die right in front of her tore her apart. When she had gone to bed that night, she had the same exact nightmare with the same odd ending.

_Starscream was Alexis' friend. Starscream was her friend. He was her friend. He was… Man's best friend?_

The end of the nightmare was always the same. What it meant, she didn't know. It always seemed to bother her and something was always nagging in the back of her mind that it meant something important. Something she forgot and left out. Aside the dream's odd finale, she still had the disk with the footage of Starscream's noble death sitting on her desk. She never watched it though. Too many old wounds would be reopened.

Shoving the dream out of her mind with much difficulty, she pondered over another question. She had been so upset the previous night with her, ahem, 'boyfriend', Jake, that she forgot to change into her pajamas and eat dinner. But then who tucked her in? She pondered this for a moment before Mars jumped on the bed and shoved his face into hers, licking her face in a friendly puppy like fashion.

"Easy boy," Alexis said as the dog's wet tongue tickled her face. The German shepherd, ignoring what she said, continued to lick at her face, wagging his tail furiously that he was happy to see her.

The closed door to her room opened, which Alexis could have sworn was open when she went to sleep, and Gram walked in. The aged woman smiled at her granddaughter and the hyperactive dog. Alexis managed to push Mars back slightly so she could clearly see Gram. Mars, at that particular moment, stopped his roughhousing and sat to attention on the bed, perking his ears his tail still wagging.

"Alexis, it's good to see you're awake," Gram said as she walked over to the bed. Mars' tongue dropped out of his mouth as he stared from Alexis to Gram with his big yellow eyes. Alexis looked at her grandmother and smiled.

"Did you tuck me into bed last night," Alexis asked Gram with another smile tugging at her face. When Gram adopted her after her parents died, Alexis always made sure Gram tucked her into bed at night. Eventually, when she was older, Alexis became embarrassed with the subject and told her grandmother to stop tucking her in. Most of the time Gram didn't, but, every so often, she would sneak into her room ad tuck her in. It was a habit that, in this case, stuck.

"Of course I did sweetie. I didn't want to wake you up to eat dinner since looked so tired. I thought you would rather sleep."

Alexis looked to Mars and managed to push the big dog off her fully. Mars, getting the message, jumped to the floor and sat there as Alexis put her legs over the side of the bed. She slipped from the bed and stood up. Her hair was a bit of a mess as got out of bed and gave Gram a big hug. She suddenly remembered about where she had to go that day and broke off the hug. She looked into her grandmother's face with a somewhat worried expression.

"Gram, what time is it," Alexis said with a somewhat frantic look on her face. Mars, seeing this expression, perked his ears up again and tilted his head to the side, a small whine escaping his throat and his tail wagging coming to a halt.

Gram looked at her with soft blue eyes and looked from the clock on her granddaughter's desk, which read 7:42, before turning back to Alexis. "Dear, it's only quarter past seven. Why do you need to know? After all, it's only Tuesday--Two day teacher conference, remember? My, yesterday was only Monday. I love four day weekends… Gives me time to spend with my favorite granddaughter!"

Pretending Gram wasn't old and pretending she didn't just state the obvious to her, Alexis looked to the clock, seeing the time herself. She had plenty of time to clean herself up before going back to the church. "I have to go met someone today. I have enough time to take a shower and eat before I go though."

"Is it Jake?"

Alexis mentally cringed at the name and Mars snapped to attention, perking his ears and head up high and emitting a low, almost inaudible growl. After Alexis said she wanted to break up, Jake gave her a shiner and threatened to hurt her even more if she tried to break up with him, she always winced in her head when someone mentioned him. Similar to the way when someone would mention Starscream while he was still alive, the only difference would be her heart would jump happily.

"No, why do you ask?"

"I'm not too fond of him," Gram said dryly as she looked the other way. "I don't think he's a healthy boy for you to be hanging around with."

Alexis psychologically nodded at that point too. Jake was an alcoholic, he being the legal age of 21 and drinking even before that, and a drug addict. His place always smelled like cigarette smoke and his house was always littered with beer bottles, trash, and cigarette butts. To Alexis, it was a wonder the whole thing didn't burn down if he fell asleep with the cancer stick, as he called them, in his mouth.

_That_ wasn't even the worst part. He was often at strip clubs on the edge of town and Alexis was positive he was cheating on her. She hated him so much though, however, that she didn't care. She didn't care weather he was arrested and thrown into jail or found dead in a car accident when he was driving drunk. She hated him and, apparently, so did Mars.

Alexis felt shameful for not seeing Mars' warning when Jake first set foot into her house when Gram asked if she could met Alexis' new boyfriend. He had snapped at his feet and barked at Jake so loudly, Alexis was sure the neighbors were going to call the police. She would have traveled deeper into her memory if Gram, however, hadn't had spoken.

"Well, do me a favor and take Mars with you. I have to go play Bingo today and it wouldn't be fair to Mars if he had to stay home all by himself," Gram said as she looked from her granddaughter to the German shepherd. "That and I don't trust him home alone in the kitchen."

Mars' tail began to wag again and he stared up at Gram innocently. Alexis smiled at the dog and then looked back to her grandmother. "Alright, I'll take him. When are you leaving?"

"I'll have to leave in about ten minutes if I want to find a good spot."

"Well, I'll take my shower now so I guess I'll see you later today."

Gram hugged Alexis again. Alexis hugged back and, after half a second, Mars got up and trotted over to the duo. The German shepherd sat down again with his tail wagging and put a paw on Alexis' side. Alexis nearly stumbled backwards at the dog's paw pushing against her and she looked down at the animal, his yellow eyes fixed on her.

"Oh, so you want a hug now too?"

Mars barked and Alexis kneeled down next to the large purebred and hugged him, scratching behind his ears as she did. Gram smiled down at them both.

"So, are you going to take that shower of yours or are you going to hug Mars all day," Gram asked playfully as Alexis stood up again.

"Yes."

Alexis walked over to her closet and pulled out a black short sleeve shirt, and blue jeans that were ripped at the knees. She reached down into a drawer in the closet and pulled out some socks, a bra, and underwear before she closed the drawer. She then walked by Gram and gave her a peck on the cheek.

"Bye Gram," she said as Mars, as always, followed her out. When they left, Gram also turned to leave but her attentions fell on the bed.

Even though the room was clean, the messy and unmade bed stuck out like a sore thumb on a cold, rotting corpse. Gram, unable to overcome her cleaning habits, walked over to the bed and made it. Striating out the pillows and sheets, Gram was about to leave, her job done, when something on the floor caught her eye.

A picture next to the bed on the floor seemed to be out of place. When she picked it up and looked at it, her mind went blank.

It was the picture of Starscream, though Gram could only describe it as a mechanical humanoid giant. It was too real to be a scene from a movie, and if it was a scene in a sci-fi movie, why didn't it have the reflection of the camera or the one taking the picture in supposed television's reflection. No. There was no reflection. Not even a slight glare. It was definitely real. No doubt about that. He--it looked like the mechanical being was male the way his facial features presented itself--looked somewhat surprised at whoever had wanted to take his photo, amber eyes staring down curiously at the owner of the camera.

"I wonder who this is," Gram said out loud softly to no one as she put the picture in her pocket, leaving the room and closing the door on her way out.

**000**

Just down the hall, Alexis had walked into the bathroom and closed the door. Mars was sitting patiently outside the bathroom door, where he always was when Alexis was taking a shower. Alexis placed her clothes on the bathroom counter and began to get undressed. As she took her shirt off, she felt around her neck for her necklace and felt nothing. Looking down at her chest, she saw it wasn't there.

Panic began rising in her before she remembered she gave it to Father Ben for the revival ceremony. She sighed and finished getting undressed, placing her clothes on the counter next to her new clothes. It was weird not wearing the Emerald stone around her neck. It always gave her a sense of comfort and it always reminded her of the Transformers, mostly Starscream.

Turing the shower on, the water poured down like rain from the previous night when she was running home from the church. But it also reminded her about another evening. The rainy night she met Jake.

_8:56 PM, her wrist watch read. Alexis looked up at the sky as a rain droplet fell on her face. It was soon followed by another, and then another and another. The droplets began dropping out of the sky like bombs as her clothes began to darken from the moisture. _

_It had been two, almost three years since the Unicron Battles. It was late July and the air was warm, moist, and humid. A flash of unseen lightning flashed in the dark sky followed by a boom of thunder. A fierce thunder and lightning storm no doubt. Rain hammered down onto the people on the sidewalk and they either went inside on of the many stores or withdrew their umbrellas, opening them and going along with their normal business._

_Alexis just stood there, just looking up at the sky with a dazed look. She didn't care weather she was soaked when she got home, it didn't matter. Nothing did. As she looked back towards the ground she walked down the sidewalk. She figured she'd take the bus home, since she figured she'd look conspicuous without an umbrella, and walked down towards the bus stop. _

_Once she reached there, she was completely soaked. If one were to look at her, one would swear she had jumped into a lake and had just gotten out. Occasionally, a person passing her on the sidewalk would think of her as a fool for not bringing a coat or umbrella in this weather. It had been posted all over the news that there would be a 95 percent chance of a severe thunderstorm that particular night._

_Alexis didn't know why she didn't bring more suited clothing for the weather. Maybe it was because she didn't care about herself anymore. After Starscream died, she stopped going up with the boys to the abandoned Autobot base to hang out. She also stopped smiling all the time. When she went back to school after the whole event on Cybertron, the first thing her friends noticed was that she stopped smiling and ceased being in such a positive, optimistic mood all the time._

_The street light by the bus station was brightly lit. The benches under the gazebo that would shelter people from the rain were dry, since there wasn't any wind to redirect the wind to hit the seats. She walked under the shelter and sat in the seat closest to the bus sign. Her hair was a mess and her clothes were dripping wet._

_After a moment or two of being alone under the tent like shelter, she reached into her shirt and pulled out the emerald stone necklace. It was wet and water was seeping into the fracture in the glassy surface. With nothing better to do, the brunette futilely tried to dry to stone with her shirt. The water on the surface of the stone was just moved around, her shirt too wet to absorb anymore moisture. _

_Sighing shakily, Alexis stared at her reflection in the stone. People would look at her and call her beautiful, her being very pretty for her age group that was normally plagued with pimples and other facial difficulties. She didn't use acne wash, make up, or anything to cover her face. She was naturally beautiful. She, however, thought otherwise. Starscream was beautiful, not her. He was brave and he wouldn't be lost in his own depression if she died instead of him. That was beauty._

_As she continued to gaze into the green emerald, she failed to notice another figure walk over to the bus stop. He was also without an umbrella and all he had on was a pair of dull jeans and a black sweater, now soaked, with a hood draped over his head and face._

_As he came under the gazebo, he removed the hood, revealing his face underneath the mask. He had ice blue eyes, dark black hair, and a cigarette hanging out the corner of his mouth. As he sat down a few feet away from Alexis, he looked up and noticed her. He hadn't seen her before and saw her staring blankly into the gemstone of her gold-chained necklace._

"_Hey, what's wrong?"_

_Alexis, snapping out of her thoughts, looked up at the newcomer. He stared down at her and noticed the large crack in the shiny glass like surface. He frowned but kept quiet, waiting for an answer. _

_Alexis, in the meantime, stared up at the handsome young man. He, in some soft of way, reminded her of the amber and silver eyed Seeker she had fallen for just years earlier. The only difference between his and Starscream was, as she could tell, Starscream was so much more cold on their first meeting, even more cold when he joined the Autobots. Still, something about this man in her head told her this wasn't Starscream and never could be. That and her gut was screaming at her to get up and walk away. Still, her quiet nature she received after the Unicron Battles told her to stay put and see what this stranger wanted._

"_Nothing, I'm just thinking."_

_The man, abruptly, sat down beside her and pulled the cigarette out of his mouth, dropped it to the ground, and stepped on it with his heel. Some of his black, raged hair fell over his blue eyes as he turned to her. The expression on his face seemed comforting, but at the same time, wasn't. "Seems more like you're upset about something."_

_Alexis, realizing he had caught her, sighed and looked out at the street ahead of her. The lights from shops and restaurants flickered out from across the street and the lights reflected and danced off the surfaces of the rain droplets falling and puddles forming on the sidewalk. It was pretty, yes, but depressing. Even more so now that this man was asking her about why she was upset…_

_She looked at him again. His expression seemed genuine. He was waiting patiently for her to change the subject or continue on with some sort of conversation. About what though? Sighing again, with no other thing in particular to talk about, she got the words out before she even realized it._

"_This necklace was… A gift from a friend of mine. He died a little while after I got it."_

_The man tilted his head at such an angle that one might have seen it as a thoughtful position. His pale face seemed to lighten up somewhat, in a sense Alexis wasn't sure she really liked, before his head settled back in a normal position. "So, was he a friend or a boyfriend?"_

_Alexis felt her face burn up slightly. After a few moments of silence, aside the heavy rain beating on the roof of the shelter, she answered. "No, he was just a friend."_

"_Oh." _

_That, Alexis hoped, was the end of the subject. She always _did_ consider Starscream a friend, but, in the back of her mind, she always futilely hoped for something more. Although she knew it could never happen, she always thought about it. _

_Starscream _was_ cravingly handsome, even for a robot ten times her size. Hotshot was cute--she remembered thinking when she first saw him--but he wasn't drop dead gorgeous like Starscream was. His wings at that particular angle, stretched out, not too big, a nice triangular shape, and, overall, very pretty. She liked Jetfire's wings too, but they were too big and plain for her tastes. Starscream's were a nice shade of white and with that twist of fiery red. Back then, red just so happened to be her favorite color. Then, when he got his upgrade with his new paintjob, Alexis couldn't help but gap when she saw him again, his wings a dark shade of blue with that same fiery red. _

_His body shape as well was something she admired. He wasn't too bulky like the other Decepticons--Megatron and Demolisher in particular--and he had that nice shape that reminded her of human athletes, but he didn't look weak either. Then there were his eyes. They were beautiful in Alexis' opinion, weather they were a bright orangey amber or ghostly silver. The way the light played off their glassy reflection always seemed to make her day and she thought, if not _knew,_ she could satisfy herself by starring at his optics all day. _

_Of course, it wasn't his looks she liked too. The whole personality of the Seeker was what she really liked. He was dangerous and was willing to fight even if he was damaged to some extent that, had been another Decepticon, Thrust an example--the name popped into her head immediately for some unknown reason--he would have run away like a coward. Still, he didn't, and Alexis admired that. Alongside that, he was also smarter then most Decepticons. He knew when to attack, retreat if necessary, and, if Megatron or Galvatron, as Starscream showed when he died, was doing something too risky or dangerous, he knew when to confront his leader on when to stop. He was also hotheaded, even more than Hotshot was, and still relatively young, although Alexis knew he was older than Hotshot. _

_In a sense, he reminded her a lot about herself. _

"_Bus is here."_

"_Huh?" _

_Alexis snapped back into the real world to see a bus begin to pull up to the bus stop. 'High Valley Transportation' was printed on the flank side of the bus facing the two in big red letters. The rain was still beating down heavily, that much she could tell, and she looked down at her watch. 9:07 PM. Had it really been that long? The bus pulled beside the gazebo just as the door opened on the side, an elderly man in the driver's seat looking out at them gently._

_Jake got up and extended a hand to Alexis. "You coming or are you gonna sit here all night?" His voice was genuinely concerned and Alexis looked up at him. His hand was still extended and looked rather inviting; aside the point the hand was from that of a total stranger. It was a strong looking hand as well, reminding her of how firm Starscream's hands were when he ripped the StarSaber from…_

_She shuddered slightly at the thought, tearing through her memory like a deep blue sword through… She dropped her head and felt her body shake again, her face suddenly hot like she would cry. For the love of God, why wouldn't she stop doing this to herself? Everything had to remind her of the ambitious Seeker, more so of his death. The reflection of herself in a mirror after she finished crying about something made her think of the look on Starscream's face before he tore the Minicon weapon from his chest. The way she snapped and went aggressive on her friends during her monthly mood swings caused by her menstrual cycle reminded her of the way he snapped and turned his back on the Autobots when he overheard them insult or gossip about him. Now this young man's hand, Jake's hand, reminded her of the Seeker's deep ebony…_

_Jake was starring at her now, a sudden look flashing in his eyes Alexis failed to recognize. She felt her eyes water suddenly in her thoughts and, before she could even stop herself, a tear rolled down her face. Jake managed to perk up more at this and kneeled down before her, icy blue eyes gazing at her with concern. Alexis felt the urge to pull away and, even as she turned to get up and walk from him, he gently put a hand on her shoulders and smiled at her. "Listen, uh…" He faltered for a second, blinking in surprise at himself. "Well… What was your name?"_

_Alexis looked back towards him slowly. The bus driver, just barley out of her sights, looked rather patient at the sight of the two and beeped the horn slightly, just loud enough to get their attention. Jake snapped his head over his shoulder to look at the driver and the commercial bus before Alexis mentally shook her head, clearing her thoughts. She could feel the tears from her sudden mental breakdown fading like a broken memory and she sighed, looking over back towards Jake. "It's Alexis."_

_Jake whirled his head back around to look at her, almost looking started at her sudden declaration. "What?" The look of surprise on his face even looked like that of Starscream, eyes slightly wider then and the skin around his chin tensing. Alexis remembered when she once approached Starscream and, as soon as she said she wasn't mad at him for any of the times he and the other Decepticons had attempted to kill her and the other humans, his optics went slightly wider and the cables around his chin region drew themselves in tighter._

"_Alexis," she said again, more confident and louder this time. She managed to bring a hand up to her face to brush away some of the brown hair that had gotten into her eyes while still keeping eye contact with the other person before her._

_Jake seemed to take the warming up to a good thing and he smiled back at her, standing up again at his full height and holding his hand out to her. "Coming?"_

_Unable to do anything more, she nodded briefly. "Yes." She took his hand without thinking, but it was cold. _

_She should have let go and walked away. Then again, maybe she shouldn't have. Either way, Jake pulled her to the bus._

_The trip home was long and quiet. Jake sat with her on the outside seat and she sat on the inside. Normally, given any other circumstance, she would have never sat with a total stranger. The only problem was that he didn't feel like a total stranger anymore. It was like she knew Jake her entire life, and that entire life had only been a span of twenty minutes. Brightly lit shapes zoomed past as the bus began the final round to her home. She leaned against the window, her head pressed to the cold glass as she stared out of it with blank eyes._

_Jake was eyeing her carefully. "Are you okay?"_

_She snapped out of her trance almost at once. "Huh?"_

_Jake smiled at her. "You were zoning out for a minute. You okay?" His smile was genuine even in the dark light, his features highlighted by the faint glow outside. She smiled dimly back, not even realizing so until she saw the look on Jake's face brighten._

"_I'm fine. Just thinking."_

_He brushed some of her brown hair out of her pale face with a steady hand, nearly making her jump at the contact._

_The bus stopped abruptly, nearly rocking Alexis out of her seat._

_Jake steadied her, wrapping an arm around her waist for the briefest of moments to assure she wouldn't fall out. As soon as the bus stopped, his arm was gone. "Looks like your stop."_

_Alexis looked up. It was indeed her stop. The familiar stop sign that marked the end of the main town limits was in plain sight and meant she was about half a mile away from her home in the cul-de-sac. Jake beamed brightly at her and got out of his seat. "Well, here you go."_

_Alexis, without her own consent, smiled at him too. "Thank you."_

_Jake smiled and, abruptly, his grin faulted. "Um… Actually, I…" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a Juicy Fruit wrapper, crumpled into a ball. He handed it to Alexis, which she took without even looking. Unconsciously, she opened it and looked at the number written in smudged pencil. She looked back up at him with a confused expression._

_His face had turned bright red. "I mean, yeah it's my number, but you don't have to call if you don't want to…" he trailed off. Weather or not he was trying to sound disappointed or not was totally out of Alexis' ability of comprehension. She nodded._

"_I'll call."_

_His face brightened with a bright hope and giddiness like a teen getting his first dirt bike, or a boy getting his first puppy. "Wow. Um…" he backed out further so Alexis could pass him. She did, exiting the seat she was in to walk up the aisle of the bus. She looked behind her briefly to see Jake enter his seat again, sitting where she had been moments ago, look up, and smile at her. His smile was warm, but something else had entered it. She stupidly ignored it. Looking back forward, she saw the bus driver smiling at her warmly too, his old senior citizen grin saying 'Good job, girl. Good, job. Reminds me of the old days when…'_

_She exited the bus--luckily for her, it had stopped raining and now was reduced to a light, almost unnoticeable drizzle--and watched as said bus rolled away. She tried to see if she could see Jake again, to be sure she wasn't dreaming, and she did see him. He wasn't looking at her, but he was there as clear as day through the window. _

_When she walked home that night, she ate an apple, sent some e-mails, sat on the bed with her beloved dog Mars, and called him. They talked, laughed, and made off with a very good start to their relationship for three hours before she finally went to sleep._

Alexis turned off the water in the shower, steam rising towards the fan built into the ceiling, and stepped out. The fan didn't do much for the steam, seeing as the glass in the mirror was still all fogged up, but she promptly ignored it and wiped it away. Her immediate reflection that she saw was of a pale woman with hazel blue eyes, but she almost mistook it for someone else for the briefest of seconds. She was pretty, sure, but she was… Broken. She couldn't explain, but she realized she didn't deserve her beauty. Starscream was beautiful and always would be.

Jake was. 'Was' as in past tense and no longer. He was once beautiful--not nearly as beautiful as Starscream mind you--but he lost that beauty once Alexis realized what a… What a bastard he was.

She almost unconsciously began to cry.

"_Stupid fucking bitch!"_

_She was tossed roughly into the bathroom and smashed her head against the counter, hitting again roughly on the floor. She was crying, she knew that, and her hair was out of place where Jake had grabbed it. It smelled like grease and tobacco in here too, she noted through the haze in her mind that could only be described as total hurt._

_Jake was looming over her, Bud Wiser in hand and his eyes blazing coldly. "Fucking learn to keep your slut mouth shut…" And then he slammed the door._

_Without another thought, she sobbed. Her first and second 'date' with Jake had all been good and dandy, but, after those two dreamily fairy tale like incidents, it turned to hell when Jake started to become possessive. Possessive to the point where's he'd lock her in the bathroom or some other foul place for hours just because she suggested he'd not drink or smoke so much. Even then though, those times were considerably tame. It was only after she accidentally discovered the stolen PP7 handgun and the marijuana packets that they turned violent. _

_Even after Jake became sober, even after he took her home in silence, even after he threatened to make her life a living hell if she told anyone, he never went back to being the prince charming she met on the bus the rainy night._

_She had been used. And she still was._

She had begun drying her hair slowly with her towel before wrapping it around her body and plugging in the hair dryer with slightly wet hands. She began to blow dry her hair, watching herself in the mirror carefully. Finished with that particular task, she put on her clothes, brushed her teeth, washed her face, finished with her hair, and looked over herself carefully again before cleaning the bathroom. All of this, done within a span of twenty minutes, cut twenty minutes time off getting to the church. She wasn't late though. Not yet at least.

She exited the bathroom with her dirty clothing and was meet with Mars, who protectively stood outside the door with his ears perked and tongue hanging from the corner of his mouth. His eyes were inquisitive, so much like that hyper puppy she adopted from the shelter five years earlier.

She smiled warmly at him. "Heya boy. Let me get my jacket and we'll go okay?"

Mars fully and readily agreed with her, barking merrily twice at her comment and turning around in a circle in excitement. She smiled at the Sheppard before returning to her room, grabbing her light, purple fleece jacket, and turning back to her desk to grab Mars' leash.

By the time she was downstairs, Mars was already waiting at the door, tail whipping back and forth like a sword ripping through the air. Alexis stopped at the thought. She… She couldn't immediately be so hopeful.

Trying to force back the memories of any kind of swordsman that would distract her and rip her good mood from her, she hurried into the kitchen, grabbed an apple for a semi appropriate breakfast, and got an oatmeal cookie for Mars--by either Primus or God, he _loved_ oatmeal cookies--before returning to said dog waiting more or less patiently at the front door. She gave him the cookie, which he ate in two vigorous bites, and hooked his leash on him while he was distracted. His collar, with the Mars stone gems, sparkled in the mid afternoon light coming in from the windows, and Alexis had to force any thought of _him_ out of her mind once more.

By the time the collar was on, Mars was done with the cookie and looking up at her in nothing more than absolute exhilaration, his tail even thumping against the wall and sounding suspiciously like a Seeker's footsteps as he walked in the many halls of the Autobot--

Before she could finish the thought, the forced herself to open the door.

Mars darted out, and it was only by Alexis' strength that she was able to keep him from running off. Mars stopped, looked over at her still in the doorway, and barked. All thought of her previous memory temporarily lost, she went out after her dog and in the direction of the church.

Now, of course the bus didn't allow dogs on the bus, and the previous night when she had ran from the church seemed much shorter from the church to her home compared to now. She had gone ten minutes--from her house, up the street, into the main town blocks--and she was only less than one quarter of the way there. Weather or not her trying to keep Mars from going too fast was the culprit of why she wasn't going to get there sooner, she would never know.

**000**

The street, as usual, was bustled with people. High Desert got an unusual amount of visitors and tourists each year because of a three strange signals the space center received five years prior, and Alexis couldn't help but grin at knowing why they came. Optimus had told her that the Autobots and Decepticons had received two very strong signals from the mountain just beside the research center, and Redalert mentioned to her the Minicons received another signal as well so they could activate much more easily. Deep down, Alexis felt bad that the people around her would never know what those signals were when, she of all people, knew…

She had no clue that she and every other person around her had to wait till Saturday to see something more devastating and awkward any strange signals.

They would get to see Judgment day.

"Alexis!"

Alexis herself had no clue how she heard Rad over the bustling and commotion of people in the streets, but she did and turned. Rad came running up to her having a beaming smile on his face with the infamous Carlos and Billy in tow--something told her Fred was getting a hotdog or something. Back at school, everyone had been surprised when, one day, Billy and Fred had hated hers, Rad's, and Carlos' guts to see all five of them the best of friends the day after. They thought it was a sort of peace treaty or fluke, but if someone told them it involved a bunch of evil robots taking Billy and Fred hostage and Alexis, Rad, and the 'Crazy Mexican Kid' Carlos with their own cavalry of good hearted giant robots, they would have thought all five of them were crazy.

Alexis turned slightly to face them and gave them a warm smile. "Hi guys," she said, though none too loudly. They either heard her or not, but they didn't pay attention to the comment either way. Typical high school senior male behavior, of course. They had the attention span of an ADHD racecar Minicon or Cyclonus, but the Decepticon helicopter was more crazy than non-attentive.

"Alexis," Rad said with his blonde hair falling over his eyes somewhat, "we're going to the movies! Wanna come with?"

Carlos was behind him in a second. "Yeah, the DaVinci Code came out a few days ago. We're going to go see it."

Alexis smiled at them and wanted to accept, but she remembered she still had to go to the church to see if… if whatever it was Father Ben did to try to bring Starscream back worked. She was surprised now that she wasn't as excited as she should have been, but there was always that chance that it wouldn't work…

"Sorry guys, but…" she railed off at the sheer disappointment that presented itself in Rad's eyes. She knew why. He was the only one who knew how much she loved Starscream--he had been disappointed then too since he had the biggest crush on her throughout middle school and through the Minicon War--and he knew how it tore her apart. Every time she said no to anything in particular, Rad would get this look to him that, more or less, was pity. Carlos, Fred, and Billy would also get that look, but it was strongest with Brad.

"Oh. Well, um, maybe we'll see you later then?" His voice was hopeful, and Alexis appreciated his effort.

Billy was the next to speak up. "Why don't you just come with us? It'll be fun!"

Mars barked loudly, his tail wagging furiously as his bark made several people on the sidewalk jump and spare nervous glances at the dog. Alexis shook her head, ignoring Mars for a brief moment. "Sorry guys, but I need to get back to the church."

"Church…?" Rad was inquisitive before it dawned on him, his eyes literally brightening at the statement. "…You mean for the research project?"

Alexis nodded. "Yeah," she said softly, tugging on the leash Mars was on to keep him from trying to run off. He sat down and looked up at her with a questioning, confused look, cocking his head to one side and whining softly.

Rad seemed reluctant to answer, but he did. "Alright then. We're going to meet Fred at the cinema in five minutes, so you can come later I guess…" He was let down, sure, but he would forgive her anyways. She had let him down before, but he always came back smiling and go lucky as always.

"I'll see you later then," Alexis said, giving Rad a slight hug before walking around him, Billy, and Carlos towards the church. She had been distracted enough that day and she was running late now.

"Oh! Alexis wait!"

Alexis turned around, slightly annoyed now, but the look on Rad's face made the annoyance disappear. He wore a look of nervousness, and that was very unusual of him on any day.

He seemed reluctant to say so, but she was glad he did in a sort of awkward sense. "I saw Jake earlier. He's down the road a few blocks from here…"

Billy, Carlos, and Fred saw no need to care about Alexis' boyfriend, but Rad didn't like him almost as much as she and her grandmother did. He had seen Jake before--dark haired and just as dark as the air that loomed around him--and had told Alexis he wasn't a good kid to be around just by seeing him. Alexis wished she had been able to see what Rad saw in Jake when she first met Jake himself.

Now she wasn't so sure she wanted to go to the church.

"Oh… Thanks Rad," she said softly before turning and walking down the street, Mars leading the way. She could see, just out of the corner of her eye, Rad walking in the opposite direction with Carlos and Billy exchanging nervous glances, but that was all. Mars seemed slightly on edge now, ears not as perked and his tongue inside his closed mouth instead of handing. Even his head was low, and he only did that when he was in a protective stance.

Protective for Alexis. Screw dog's being mans' best friend; woman's best friend seemed slightly more appropriate.

Alexis continued on down the sidewalk to the church, walking at a slightly faster pace. If Jake really was around here, she wanted to avoid him. Especially after her argument with him the previous night over the phone. Of course, telephone conversations with the black haired drunk weren't nearly as violent and verbally abusive as a conversation in real life, so running into him now would be incredibly bad.

Mars kept on walking steadily, his ears still kept back and his pace quick and even. He was almost like a wolf in appearance, watching out for enemy wolves. Alexis smiled at him, unconsciously realizing how much he… Acted like…

Mars stopped and snarled.

Alexis had to stop dead in her tracks to keep from bumping into Mars' rump, but she did anyways. Mars didn't budge and the snarl trailed off into a low growl. Alexis, now looking up, realized the street had cleared somewhat without as many people on the sidewalk. The larger crowd was more or less behind her and, also more or less, she was in the open.'

And Mars was _pissed_.

The German Sheppard was hunched over, ears flat against his back and tail rigid as he gazed off across the street. Alexis, unable to help even herself, looked up in the direction Mars was so fixated on.

Jake always was a shady character, she noted, and he was sitting on the steps of a convenient store across the street smoking a cigarette. At least, she thought it was a cigarette. It very well could have been marijuana for al she knew. Her 'boyfriend' was clad in tight jeans and a black hoodie, the hood covering his black scalp conveniently and adding to the dangerous air that loomed over him like a shroud. To make things worse, Mars' sudden growl made him immediately look up. Blue eyes looked with her hazel ones and she was caught.

Jake jumped up and Mars bolted. She nearly fell over when the dog pulled on the leash, but she quickly got the hint and ran. Better to run than to stick around Jake. He wouldn't hurt her in public, but she had at least run and keep him from catching her. If he did, there were plenty of alleyways--

Hell no. _Fucking, hell no. _Jake hadn't tried to rape her at all _yet_, but there was a chance he would try to soon. He was becoming much more moody as of recently and her conversation on the phone with him the previous night was an excellent temper of showing his temper.

Mars was running at full speed, and Alexis had no choice but to keep up with her companion. She heard the angry honking of car horns as she supposed Jake darted across the street to chase her down, and she was sure he was hell bent on catching her.

She had been chased down by giant robots, alien drones under the Mohave Desert, Minicons, a tidal wave of acid, and robot parasites. Like hell she was going to let herself get caught by an asshole jerk-off named Jake.

Without breaking down? _That_ was a different story.

She felt tears brimming the corners of her eyes as she ran down the sidewalk as fast as her legs could carry her. God, she would've felt so much better with the stone necklace around her neck and the stone between her breasts, but it was at the church, and she needed to get there before Jake caught her so she could claim sanctuary. She doubted that would work of course but, if she got there soon enough, she might be able to hide herself behind the alter.

"_Bitch!_ Fucking _bitch_, get the fuck back here _cunt!_"

She nearly screamed at how close he seemed, and she only dared to spare a glance over her shoulder. Out of the corner of her eye, she did see Jake catching up with her. His hoodie had fallen back and his ruffled hair mad him look almost like a crazy homeless man that lived in the slurs of New York or San Francisco.

He was gaining on her.

She did scream, though yelp sounded like a much more appropriate term. Mars suddenly picked up the pace and barked loudly, almost menacingly as though trying to deter Jake from the chase. The black haired teen showed no signs of slowing, and it dawned on Alexis he might've been--no--_was_ drunk.

Then she saw the church.

The white, peeling paint and the green vines growing up the side of the aged building came into clear view and Alexis almost started to cry with relief. Her side was killing her and her lungs were on fire, but she ran faster alongside Mars. It never occurred to her how many less pigeons there were on the roof of that building that day, or how much, every day she would go there from that point on, how many less pigeons there would be up until the point of Saturday. Of course, she was essentially running for her life, so it never did dawn on her.

She ran up the stairs and, then, she dropped Mars' leash. The German Shepherd sprinted up the stairs and lunged for the wooden door, bashing it wide open with his head. He ran inside moments before Alexis sprinted in and slammed the door shut behind her.

The church inside was dark and the candles unlit, and the Calvary that hung above the alter seemed to glare at her in the darkness of the church, but she didn't care. Her heart was still racing and the adrenaline was still pumping furiously through her tired veins and limbs.

Jake was still coming. She heard him from outside.

She looked frantically for the lock that was supposed to be on the door, but she couldn't find it. She thought momentarily about trying to hold the door closed, but Jake would surely manage to break in anyways. There was always the possibility she could hide behind the alter like she thought earlier, but it dawned on her now that he would check behind there first if she hid there and he got in. The aisle seats were out of the question as soon as the thought of them popped into her head. They were too low to hide under, and he would surely see her.

Unbeknownst to even Alexis herself, she began to cry.

Mars was racing up against the wall madly, as if the dog was looking for something. Alexis looked up and over her shoulder to see him and, stupidly, she ran to him, leaving the door unguarded. She was about to turn to go back, but--

_BLAM_

The door vibrated at the force of Jake throwing himself at the door, and Alexis yelped loudly. Jake heard her and slammed his entire body into the door again. Thankfully for Alexis, Father Ben didn't install a lock on the door because the door itself would often jam itself in the doorway. Alexis had managed to jam it, yes, but Jake's determination to reach the brunette was forcing the door to open inch by inch as he repeatedly threw himself against itr.

_BLAM _

"_Fucking bitch!" _

_BLAM _

"_Let me the fuck in!" _

_BLAM_

Too frightened to try to force the door shut, and knowing she would never be able to, she ran back to Mars. The German Shepherd was still running back and forth against the wall and by the many statues that lined--

The leaver.

To get to the room with the skylight--and consequently to the room Father Ben was using to revive Starscream--there was the leaver behind one of the statues. But, oh God, which one!? She desperately ran her hands along the wall and behind the statues to find the forsaken leaver, but she couldn't find it.

"_**ALEXIS!"**_

_BLAM_

She began to sob, groping for the lever in a desperation she never thought possible of her.

Then, barking madly, Mars jumped up and nearly bit her hand. With a surprised yelp, she pulled back before Mars jumped up again, and, grabbed something with his teeth. Yanking back on it, the wall opened with a creaking of stone rubbing against stones and the secret passage opened.

Mars had found it.

Mars ran in and Alexis ran after before the door could close. As soon as she was in the doorway, it began to close and Alexis had to jump slightly so she wouldn't be crushed between the stone door frame. She fell flat on her face on the staircase, scraping her cheek and nose on the cold stone stairs, and she would've tumbled down them if Mars didn't grab the collar of her jacket. The jacket ripped somewhat--she could hear the tearing sound--but she didn't care. Her face stung where she fell on her face, her lungs burned, her sides were killing her, and she gasped for breath and scrambled to sit up.

BLAM

She heard Jake run in. She sat up fully and pressed herself up against the secret door, gasping as quietly as she could. Mars' ears fell flat on his skull and he bared his teeth, thought he was silent.

"What the fucking hell you fucking cunt! Get the hell out here!" An aisle was toppled, followed by a candle stand. At least, that was what Alexis thought. The sounds matched. She heard footfalls on the wooden floor followed by footfalls on carpet.

Then she heard him walking up against the wall.

She held her breath.

The footfalls stopped just outside the secret passage and, for a split second, she thought he knew where she was, and she was just about to start crying again. Still, she held her breath for a split second more. Good thing too. Had she not and started crying, Jake would've found the leaver, pulled her up, and stabbed her right in the gut with his six inch long switchblade. Mars would've lunged to avenge his best friend and, in one lifetime, his only friend, only to get slashed across the throat with the same switchblade. He would've fallen, bleeding like a slain animal before he would've been gutted and left to bleed over Alexis' bloody and dead body. Jake would've slit his own throat a second later, and father Ben would've walked in to find Alexis, Mars, and Jake all dead at the scene of a bloody murder and suicide.

But Alexis held her breath for that one split second.

Then, Jake began to walk away.

She continued to hold her breath until she heard him pick up a jog and run for the door, though not without toppling another candle stand and screaming a final farewell until he found here again.

"_FUCKING __**BITCH!**_

With that, he was gone.

Then, she heard him leave and all was quiet. When she couldn't hear anything and Mars calmed down, she collapsed and cried as hard as she could. Now he was willing to chase her? This was just perfect. The next thing was he was probably going to rape or _kill_ her. Mars licked Alexis' face and she forced herself to stop crying.

The dog. Mars, the hyper, puppy like five year old pulled through for her again. First for being there when she needed someone, then for trying to warn her about Jake when she first met him, after for always knowing where Jake was, and now for finding the secret leaver.

The leaver. Mars _knew_ where the leaver was. There was no way he could have found the leaver on his own. Could he? Alexis didn't know. She knew dogs were smarter than humans gave them credit for but how much smarter? No. That wasn't the point. He knew where it was, there was no doubt about it. But how did he know?

"If you didn't find the leaver… I don't know what would have happened. You saved me again," Alexis said quietly as she petted Mars on the head. The dog wasn't wagging his tail or panting with his tongue hanging out of his tongue. His face was serious. Dead serious. It seemed almost human like. Almost identical to…

She suddenly realized she forgot about Starscream. His spirit should heave been reborn by now and he was probably in that room behind that curtain, like a final crucial character in a play. He was just waiting now. Waiting to be called out from behind stage to make his appearance.

Although Alexis realized she should wait for Father Ben to arrive, she didn't want to wait outside in the main hall. That option was out of the question. The thought of going back out there where Jake was just moments before scared her. That and she didn't know how to get out. The first time she came down here she went back to the top of the stairs and found she was locked out. Father Ben came up afterwards and did something with the door to get out, like a secret button or something, but it was too dark for her to see. She should wait for Father Ben but the thought of Starscream overrode that option as well. She was sure Ben wouldn't mind anyways.

Mars licked her on the face again. The animal's expression was unchanged. What was he trying to say to her? At first Alexis thought he was trying to say something like 'I told you Jake was a bastard but you didn't listen.' Now it was something different. She couldn't tell what though.

A soft breeze.

Then, there was a slight draft coming from the end of the dark tunnel. Alexis didn't say anything, fearing the sound of her own voice would frighten her when it echoed back--by the looks of the dark, dank walls, she knew there would be an echo--stood, and carefully began to walk down the dark passage. Mars trotted behind her, tail wagging and tongue hanging as he followed loyally, though there was less life to his stride than normal. She continued to walk on until she came to a spiraling staircase--she didn't remember this staircase in particular, but she was taking more time to pay attention to the little details now--paused, and pressed on. The further she walked, the colder it got. Alexis knew it hadn't been as nearly as cold the last time she came, but there was something… Ominous now. Ominous about the passage, that was.

After a good two minutes, she came upon the room with the skylight and its curtain barrier to the room afterwards. It was coldest here. Alexis shuddered and wrapped her arms around her stomach as to keep her body warm while Mars walked briskly up behind her before turning sharply and flanking her right side, ears perking up.

"St-_Starscream?" _It was stupid, sure, but there was nothing else she could think of to say. "Are you there?"

Mars perked his ears up and looked at Alexis with a strange, almost alien look in his eyes that Alexis never saw before. Still, despite her dog's outlandish behavior, she didn't pay too much mind to her dog or the idiocy of what she was doing. She called out again.

"Starscream? If you're there… If you're there, can you say something," she said as she felt her face grow hot. Weather or not in silent embarrassment or sheer heartache, she wasn't sure. Her chest began to hurt and her throat stung with a stubborn tenderness. She wanted to cry, she felt like it too, but she stubbornly refused any tears to draw. Still, and grudgingly, she could keep them from falling, but she couldn't stop it from hurting so much.

Starscream was dead. Fucking _dead_. And there was no goddamn way he was ever going to come back.

The next soft breeze threw her off. That and the movement behind the curtain.

She immediately straightened and Mars _growled_. Quite frankly, he never growled unless, for one, there was someone or something in the immediate area he didn't recognize, or for another, it was Jake. The idea of the later of the two was quickly diminished in her own personal mental recycle bin and the possibility of the prior was definite. _Something_--someone was out of the question: It was too portentous and eerie to be someone--was back there.

And it wanted her.

Alexis stepped forward and nearly fainted at what she heard.

"_I'm here."_

It was a soft, almost tired voice that came from all directions and filled the room with a sense of peace. A soft voice said that seemed to fill the whole room that, as soon as it spoke, Alexis swore the temperature might've dropped. It was only a quick, monotonous thought that lasted only but the briefest of nano-seconds, because the rest of what she felt was warmth of sheer happiness that could never be described. She knew that voice. She loved it.

It was _his_ voice.

Alexis froze as tears finally blinded her eyes before, while refusing to blink, stubbornly streamed down her face. Mars' growl deepened in the back of her subconscious, but she paid no heed. Nothing about Mars' protectiveness affected her now that her own protector, her own angel, was here before her. She shakily walked closer to the curtain until she was close enough to touch it and it's translucent--it was nearly opaque, but she could clearly see outlines of the candles in the room just barley--surface. There was a brief, almost unnoticeable movement from behind it and she put her hand lightly on the curtain, her palm just barley touching the silky surface and letting the fabric tickle her hand.

A shadowy figure approached.

It was so sudden, she almost pulled away, though the sight of the outspread, sleek triangular wings kept her in place. The movements she had seen before were brief and barley noticeable, but this shadow cast over the curtain from the skylight was blunt and most _definitely_ there. The form had the wings, a slim frame, broad chest, and a distinctly shaped head that she would have recognized without seeing the glow of his beautiful silver or amber eyes.

"…_Starscream_? Starscream is that… Is that _you_?" Alexis asked, voice involuntarily cracking as she neared the peak of shedding overjoyed tears.

Mars growled slightly louder.

The voice from earlier filled the room and the shadow shifted slightly. _"Yes, it's me. I'm coming back."_ The voice calmly said again. Alexis could tell Starscream's form wasn't complete, but it was still him.

The shadow moved his hand and placed it where hers was, as though trying to touch her and assure her it really was him.

A tear slipped down the side of her face and, unbeknownst to her, she moved her other hand to push the curtain aside.

Mars barked furiously and, a moment later, Father Ben grabbed her hand.

She whipped her head to the side to see Ben looking at her sternly. "Father--?"

"Not yet," he said sternly, though it was gentle and caring. "Revealing him in an incomplete state could undo the entire process. You must have patience."

Alexis looked at him sadly before turning back to the shadow of the Decepticon she loved so dearly. Starscream cocked his head to the side and stepped back, still revealed in the light as a shadowed silhouette. Alexis continued to gaze at him, hypnotized by his fluid movement of moving away, and Father Ben smirked.

Mars was still growling, though slightly softer as the shadowed form of Starscream vanished.

Alexis turned around and looked at father Ben fearfully. "Where--?"

"His physical form is not formed yet. He can't be there all the time. By the end of this week, he'll be a whole again," the aged man said.

Without even realizing it, Alexis turned and gave the father a hug before she cried into his chest.

"_Thank you so much!_ He-he was my best friend when he w-was _alive_," she couldn't help but sob now, and she felt Father Ben hug her back warmly. She only continued to bawl. "When he died, I-I lost something that no one could ever imagine losing. God, _I love him!"_ Alexis sobbed out still crying into the priest's chest.

Father Ben gave continued to hug her back as he looked up and, unconsciously, over at Mars. Ben felt immediately nervous in a way as the dog stared at him with its yellow eyes. He glared at Mars trying to make the animal stop staring at him but Mars didn't even flinch. There was something wrong with Mars like it _knew_ what Ben was planning. Then, stifling another low sob, Alexis stopped crying and looked up at Father Ben with her happy but sad eyes.

"It was the power of God and the stone necklace that revived him… Wasn't it?" Alexis asked Ben.

Ben smiled trying to ignore Mars starring at him. "Yes it was. God has brought back Starscream's sprit. Now, his body will be created and tomorrow he will truly live by this week's end," he said.

Mars only continued to glare.

Alexis managed to wipe her face, trying to dry the overjoyed tears with her scarped hand, while feeling a smile go across her face. "How can I ever thank you? I'm forever in your debt," Alexis said still in the priest's arms.

Ben smiled. "You have already given me what I wanted."

Oh, how Alexis should've realized what was horribly wrong with that statement. Mars bared his teeth slightly and snarled. As Ben turned to Mars again as he heard the snarl and Mars bared his teeth at Father Ben, his growling getting louder. Alexis turned to her dog and, taking herself away from the priest's embrace, kneeled down next to her best friend.

"What's wrong Mars? Is there something bothering you?" Alexis asked as Mars stopped growling. The dog stared at her with desperate yellow eyes and Alexis furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "…Mars?"

"Maybe I should take you home now," Father Ben said with a worried tone in his voice. "When I came here this morning, I found a few pews toppled over along with a few candle posts. And seeing you all scraped up, I'm guessing you had a bit of trouble."

Alexis sighed and looked over at him. "…I was chased."

Father Ben snorted and smiled. "Well, I'm glad you're alright. Do you know who--?"

"No." It came out of her mouth before she could stop herself, and, with a sad mental scowl, she realized show would have said it anyways.

Father Ben stared at her, as though not believing what she said, before he smiled at her again. "Well, you can report it to the police. If you don't, I won't interfere," he said genuinely. "Now, I can take you home still. I have my car sitting out in the back."

"You would take the time to take me home?" Alexis asked Father Ben, worried that she was being a pest to the point where he would bother to take her home himself.

Ben laughed a booming laugh that was jolly and hearty for such an old man. "Oh, of course I would take you! After all, I suppose you had a horrible scare this morning?"

Alexis nodded unconsciously.

"Now, my car is parked behind the church. I'll meet you there in a few seconds. And there's another lever to the left of the secret door upstairs so you can get out," Father Ben said with a smile on his face as he gestured towards the exit.

Alexis turned around to look at Starscream before she would have to leave.

The shadow reappeared for a moment, and the Seeker's silhouette swayed on his feet fluidly. "_See you later,"_ Starscream said before he disappeared from sight behind the curtain once more.

Alexis smiled but then noticed something out of place.

There where pigeon feathers on the floor by the curtain. They were gray and fluffy, and Alexis knew that they weren't there before the other day… She didn't pay much attention to them though, dismissing it as a fluke--perhaps the skylight had been opened and a pigeon had flown it, scattering its feathers among the floor--and turned back to Father Ben.

"Thanks. Thank you for everything," Alexis said as she started to walk out of the room.

Mars then started to follow her too.

As Alexis vanished through the door to the passage that would lead to the main part of the church, he stopped, turned his head, and looked directly at Ben.

Father Ben froze in place and, unable to resist, his eyes meet the _hateful_ gaze of the German Shepherd. Dogs didn't glare--that's exactly what the dog was doing, Ben decided--at people. At least, not that the priest heard of in his lifetime… Yellow eyes bore into Father Ben's own eyes and, though by random and gross probability, it happened. The emerald stone necklace around Ben's neck--both chain and stone--began to _burn_ at his chest like a cow being marked with a fiery, iron brand. Ben bit back a yelp, no; _scream_ at the hot stone burning his chest and neck with relentless, merciless heat.

Then it stopped, followed by a feral, inhuman snarl.

A snarl issued by the dog.

True, the snarl itself was whispering in the far reaches of Ben's consciousness, but it _came from the freaking dog_. Ben dared to look at Mars once more, only to see the dig had turned away from him and was stalking after his owner in silence. Ben only could stare after Mars before he was out of sight before chancing a look at his chest. He pulled part of his robe aside and hissed at the reddened skin in the outline of the necklace.

He nearly choked at the sign of, ironically, what looked like a cross in the center of the burn caused by the actual stone itself on the very middle of his chest. The cross was pale like his skin, as though untouched by the burning green stone. He supressed a shudder.

Tenderly, though still shaken, he covered his chest back up and winced at the feeling of the stone brushing against his branded skin. A sign of failure or a sign of someone trying to make him fail? The later perhaps, since _his_ plan was genius.

The devil himself never fails.

"That dog can't be who I think it is… or can it…" he asked himself quietly, staring blankly at the floor. The light from the skylight had faded out due to clouds blocking the clouds, and the room became dark aside the candle light from behind the curtain.

The shadow moved behind the curtain, but the figure of Starscream vanished. Sleek, triangular wings turned droopy, jagged even, and the cannons that normally formed his back danced in the candlelight to become a horrific hump. The rest was a dark, huddled shape of something dangerous.

Ben did smile then. The dog was something important. Very important, yes, but its attempts would be futile. Father Ben reached into his robe pocket.

Something behind the curtain gave a low rumbling growl.

The priest pulled out the bloodied pigeon he had carried in his pocket from the attic of the church--the attic with a conveniently broken window for the damned birds to fly in--with its head too far to the right and its dead eyes reflecting pure agony, as though the way it felt in its final moments. Ben threw the corpse towards the curtain.

The monster behind the curtain squealed with piggish hunger and, as soon as the pigeon hit the curtain, it reached towards it hungrily, jarring the curtain in every direction and nearly ripping them. The pigeon was, finally, pulled through--and by 'through', it had actually been pulled _through_ the curtain like a ghost passing through a wall--by long, skillful claws. It grunted in satisfaction as it ate like a pig, snorting and devouring the deceased bird like slop. Feathers fell to the floor, just beside the feathers that, unbeknownst to Father Ben, Alexis had seen earlier.

Ben smiled. "You'll have a more coming tomorrow. A girl and maybe her dog at the end of the week." With that, he turned and walked away.

The monster squealed and screamed for more.

**000**

It was three 'o clock now, and Father Ben had managed to drive Alexis home in his aged but refurnished black Crown Victoria in an hour. Alexis had been in awe at the sleekness of such an old 50's vehicle, and Father Ben himself felt slightly bemused. Flattering, yes, but he supposed her once socializing with giant alien robots that turned into these kinds of things--at least the more modern types anyways. Mars had hopped into the back seats while Alexis sat next to Ben in shotgun, but at least the dog sat behind his owner. Ben wasn't sure if he would last if the dog was behind him, glaring into the back of his skull and willing his brain to burn. Ben, trying not to focus on the dog, tried distracting himself by stopping at the park to let Alexis play with Mars for awhile before heading to the local Clam Haven--_Come Get Great Food and Ice-cream at AWESOME PRICES! _the sign said--to get some ice cream all paid by him. It helped somewhat when he ordered his vanilla cup while Alexis got her rocky road in a cone, but it proved fruitless when Alexis got a small vanilla ice cream cone for the dog.

Finally, after three hour long ride that included the distractions along the way, Ben drove up her road and, upon reaching her and Gram's home, he drove the car into the driveway, braked, and shut the engine off. The sun was setting reddish orange in the distance, but Alexis wasn't deterred the slightest.

"Thank you for the ride home," Alexis said in a sweet voice, hazel eyes flashing in Ben's direction. "I appreciate your help. All of it."

Father Ben smiled back, though not as full. "You're welcome, young one."

Without more than another word shared, Alexis got out, smiled at him once more, and closed the door, leaving him and Mars alone for the briefest of seconds. Father Ben swore he was going to be sick. Any moment with that dog and he felt as though that day's earlier events would repeat, the stone necklace attempting to burn his chest once more. Nothing happened though, not even the slightest groan on the animal's part, and Alexis opened the passenger door to let Mars out. Father Ben knew Mars hesitated for a brief moment--he never heard the satisfactory thud of the dog jumping out and the clicking of its claws on the asphalt--but, after a split second, he did get out, jumping from the car and running off somewhere.

The door never closed though. Instead, Alexis stuck her head in. "You can come in for dinner if you want to. My grandmother has eyes bigger than her stomach and cooks more than necessary. We'll have enough for you."

Ben hesitated, but replied against his will. "Well, maybe just a quick bite."

Alexis smiled at him and closed the door, opening the driver's door to help the aged priest out. Father Ben stepped out of the car and, after taking the keys out and putting them in his robe pocket clumsily, and closed the ebony door behind him. Taking a quick glance around, he didn't see Mars.

Alexis was already ahead of him, jogging towards the door on brisk heels. She leaped up every other cement step to her home's door and knocked heartily three times. By the time Father Ben came up behind Alexis--he couldn't help but glance over his shoulder for Mars to suddenly reappear--the door was open.

And both Alexis and gram were met with the surprised look of Gram.

"Alexis, sweetie! I was about to head out to look for you! Bradley said you were only going out to the church down the mile from here," she said warmly, her voice a pitch high than usual. Alexis knew she was worried instantly, so she put a hand on her mother's shoulder and kissed her on the cheek.

"I'm fine." She paused. "Is Rad--?"

Before the brunette had the chance to finish, Rad poked his head around Gram and beamed brightly at Alexis. "Hey Alexis! You should've seen the movie with us!"

Carlos was calling from somewhere else in the house. "Yeah, man! It was totally out of this world!" of course it was Carlos--the Mexican accent was undoubtedly ringing in his voice with his positive air--and, of course, Fred and Billy had to be in the house somewhere, Fred likely in the kitchen and Billy bothering Carlos. The four boys had managed to sway her grandmother into letting them hang out at her place _again_.

A moment later, Rad's facial expression changed and his forehead became wrinkled, his brows furrowing at the sight of Father Ben. Alexis wished she could have smacked him for being as rude as to do such a thing while the Father only smirked, mentally realizing the boy would also die at the plans that were unraveling, but Gram didn't notice. She did, like the blonde boy, also notice Ben as well. "Oh! Who's this?

"Are you going to introduce me to your family?" Father Ben asked Alexis with an almost virtuous look plastered to his aged features. Alexis looked to him briefly, smiled, and turned back to her grandmother and Rad. As soon as her eyes met Brad's blue ones, his somewhat discouraging look vanished and his face became less screwed.

Alexis shifted her eyes and smile back to her grandmother. "This is Father Ben."

By this point, Father Ben reached around Alexis and took Gram's hand gingerly stepping around Alexis so he could kiss the back of her hand lightly. "I'm the priest for the church Alexis was doing a report on. I must say, you have a lovely granddaughter." Father Ben said still holding Gram's hand.

Gram was blushing at Father Ben. "Oh, my, what a gentleman!" Her face was red, and Alexis had to stifle a laugh at the priest's flirting. "…Would you please stay for diner? It would be an awfully special treat if you did.

"Well I am felling hungry," Father Ben said playfully, smiling sweetly at the aging woman.

"Me too!" Fred _was_ in the kitchen. Alexis heard him from the left hand side of the house, signaling he had to have been there. No surprise really, but it still crossed her mind that he could have also been in the living room eating chips or, ahem, the bathroom.

Gram stepped back into the house, Rad walked off towards the kitchen, and the sound of Billy and Carlos' feet hammering on the wood floor as they jumped up from the living room to go to the kitchen to help with the cooking filled Alexis' ears. Alexis stepped inside, smiled again at Ben, and the white haired priest followed, casting another nervous glance over his shoulder.

Mars was sitting in the middle of the front yard, glaring. Father Ben hurried inside and closed the door.

The dog sat there for sometime with his yellow eyes an almost amber in the setting sun.

**000**

It was now ten 'o clock on a Tuesday night, seven hours past the time Father Ben and Alexis arrived at Alexis' home. Alexis had met Father Ben on Monday. Still, it was late, and the supposed-to-be-quick diner, turned into a long, drawn out evening meal like one would have with a large family. After the food was eaten, the rest of the time had been spent in the living room, talking about school, cooking, and occasional history lesson on the church Ben preached at. Father Ben had contributed greatly--Billy had been surprised when the old man had cracked several jokes unthought-of to come from the mouth of a holy man--but it was casual nonetheless.

Now Father Ben was leaving. Carlos had left twenty minutes earlier to watch his little sister--she was a freshman, but that didn't matter to him much--Rad had left to take a shower, and Billy and Fred left after him to watch a sci-fi horror film marathon. The priest, now tucking his robe tightly around him to stay warm in the cool spring night air, walked briskly to his car.

"Thank you again Benny," gram exclaimed sweetly from her place within the entrance to the house, waving heartily at the old man with her eyes sparkling. Ben had turned and smiled warmly at her, and the senior woman giggled softly and walked back inside. Alexis darted out and ran after the old priest.

She stopped short in front of him. "I'll see you tomorrow?" she said hopefully. Ben knew she was asking about Starscream in one portion of his mind, but the other portion realized she was asking for his company too. He smiled falsely and nodded.

"I'd be glad to see you," he said, cackling in the far back of his mind how stupid she was. His plan…

It was working perfectly.

Alexis said to him before she kissed him lightly on the cheek--it was the same gesture like she did with her grandmother, showing him that he fully trusted her--and she ran back into the house without another word. Nothing needed to be said more.

The door closed and he was… No. He _wasn't_ alone.

There was a feeling in the back of his mind that told him to hurry up, but he had that feeling all the time inside the skylight room with his master's pet disguised as a sad girl's angel. He dismissed the thought--after all, if anything really sinful was stalking him in the dead, dreary night, it would surely know what he was doing to serve their master--and opened the door to his black Crown Victoria with the silver decals on the doors and flank.

Father Ben then climbed into his old, refurnished black car, sitting on the black leather seat and slipped the key into the ignition slot. The engine gave the aged, familiar gunshot bang and the car started up, radio turning on automatically.

Odd enough the radio never started automatically. You _had_ to start the radio manually in an older car. Ignoring the overall point, this wasn't the normal station either.

The loud, booming hiss of static came through and the aged priest jumped in place. The deafening roar made the man's ear drums bulge as he instantly--more so instinctively--grabbed the volume dial, turning it down. Ben knew the volume level wasn't that high when he left the car. Attempting to turn off the radio, he pressed the button beside the steering wheel's gear shift. Nothing changed. The radio still gave the eerie feedback from its aging speakers. Father Ben stared at the radio for a minute more. This was all weird enough. That was until he looked up.

In the driveway just between him and the garage was Mars. The light from the headlights shined into the dogs eyes and gave them a glowing blank look. The canine's ears were drawn back and the bristly hair stood on end, the dog's whole body rigid like a lone wolf glaring down its prey. What scared father Ben was the snarl. The dog's teeth were bared in a deadly sneer or, more so what the priest saw, a _grin_. The static screamed at full volume again and the dog began to bark menacingly at him, saliva spattering from the monster's mouth and teeth bared at its full, deadly level. The bark was even louder then the static, momentarily causing him to wonder why Alexis or her idiot grandmother weren't coming out to take in their crazed mutt.

It dawned on him.

He was the only one who could hear the dog because the static _and_ barks were coming through the _speakers_…

The dog lunged forward, snapping viciously at the front left tire of the car. Father Ben put the car in reverse and slammed his foot on the gas, speeding backwards out of the driveway with a loud screeching of rubber on asphalt. The thought as to how the dog knew where to bite at the car would come later and poke at the priest's further reason's to fear the animal. That would be once he later returned back to the church. _Much_ later. For now, the stray thought didn't even come to mind. Luckily, no cars were coming down the normally quiet road so there was no real issue of hitting anyone's car. Ben didn't care either. He just wanted to get away from the _thing_.

Mars barked, louder then before this time as he jumped forward, hunched over and snarling. The bark carried on so loud over the speakers of the car that it wasn't a bark anymore. It was a _scream_. It continued on for several moments unlike the barks, only lasting a moment for a normal dog, but the almost agonized and raged scream carried on for almost thirteen seconds. Perhaps it was fourteen, but Father Ben wasn't trying to listen, nor was he keeping track. He wanted _out_.

He turned the wheel rapidly and, returning the shift to its normal position, hit the gas. For an old man, many people seeing him speeding at over 60 miles per hour in a 20 speed limit zone would be odd enough. Still, seeing what Ben saw would scare _anybody_.

The car squealed down the street until the woods beside Alexis' house shadowed the house and the garage. Ben glanced in the rear view mirror. Mars had walked out in the middle of the road and was staring down the way at the retreating old car, eyes still glowing their deadly yellowish shade. Ben swore the thing would have started to chase him but, to top off the horrifying incident, it ran off into the woods.

The static ceased and the regular radio station came on. A woman was interviewing someone whose importance wasn't the first priority on Ben's list. Ben snapped the radio off and kept it off the rest of the way back to the church.

If that dog was one of the two whom _he_ warned Father Ben to look out for… _Their_ plan was ruined.

**000**

As Gram slipped into her silk nightgown, her own mind was pondering…

The picture sat innocently in one old hand, wrinkled fingers gently holding the image to the light. The robot's orange optics were a nice shade combined with the red and white of the rest of his frame and even Gram would admit, for a robotic alien, he looked young; maybe even human. She turned the picture over so she could look at the back.

_**Starscream**_

The expression was written in her granddaughter's somewhat loopy, cursive hand writing. It took Gram a moment to pronounce the word correctly--Star scram? Stars cream? Star scream? Yes, star scream seems right--but it didn't take more then a second to realize it was a name. The robot's name.

"I wonder…" The old woman dwelled before she sighed. Putting the picture in her beside table drawer, she climbed into bed and turned out the antique lamp beside her. The lights out, the old woman went to sleep. Although Alexis too already went to bed--this time with her pajamas and prepared for a peaceful night before returning to school the next day and back to the church at the end of the week--someone was still up.

And he would need all the help he could get…

**000**

Mars raced through the woods, long legs carrying the dog as fast as his organic form take him. Alexis and Gram would never know of the family pet's disappearance because Mars would always let himself out at night when he needed to go out; he would always let himself back in too. The two had been surprised he knew how to open the doors by himself, grabbing the knob in his mouth and twisting the knob, but they never really wondered _how_ he learned that. Just like how Mars found the lever in the church.

_I remember… A very long time ago…_

Wolves ripping apart their dinner, a young buck deer, glanced up at the German Shepherd that raced by on the sloping forest hill above the pack. The snarled dangerously but ignored Mars for the most part as he disappeared into the deep forest. The moon shone down on the deep woods as the wolves resumed their meal, ripping and tearing the flesh of their midnight dinner as blood smeared against the pack's grayish silver fur.

_I swore an oath to you, Galvatron… And I could never break that oath…_

Mars tripped once over a lone root of a tree on a three foot drop and fell forward into the ditch. The dog slammed on his side in the mud of a small stream when the root snapped in to. Thick mud covered his soft fur as he yelped, trying to get up. He slipped once in the water but barley regained his footing, trotting forward. Leaping over a rock in his way, Mars kept on going, ignoring all obstacles in his way.

_But all of this could have been prevented… If only you had given me some respect…_

Even when Mars reached the High Desert canyon, he continued on, clouds of dust forming as he ran through the same valley Optimus Prime and Megatron once fought before Alexis. Even passing right beneath the same exact spot Starscream once stood when he appeared before his future friends. But Mars ignored that. Dirt and dust clung to his wet fur dirtying him even more. He knew everything that happened within the brown stone walls but spoke nothing. He couldn't. He was trapped in the shell of a dog. Dogs couldn't talk.

_I tried to gain favor from you… But nothing was ever good enough…_

Mars jumped onto the side of a rock on the steep side of the canyon wall. His weight held but the rock creaked slightly. The determined animal ignored it. He leaped to the next rock and it crumbled, giving out under his weight and sending him falling ten feet to the ground. He yelped as soon as he hit the ground on his unprotected ribcage. Two ribs on his flank fractured and he screeched loudly. No. he _had_ to ignore it. He needed help. Yapping like a dog returning to its master from an illegal dog fight, he jumped to the same rock from earlier with slightly more difficultly and leap to another. It held this time and he continued upward towards the top of the ledge that looked over the same battle ground he fought on five years ago.

_No matter how may battles I fought… You always found fault… _

Upon reaching the peak, scrapes and bruises his prize for climbing the cliff side, he gazed out with yellow eyes at the scene. The moon--his old home--shone brightly. The High Valley region was filled with bright stars that showed aside the city lights blinking in the distance, oblivious to the Transformers existence and the threat about to destroy their city and the whole planet. The back of the satellite tower behind him aimed towards the stars as the moon reflected it's luminescence off the silvery white surface, like the blinding blast of energy reflecting off dead silver eyes.

_Then I saw how Optimus treated his men, and I realized he was a leader of integrity… Unlike you…_

Mars aimed his head toward the moon and howled. No one else on Earth would hear that sound coming from the German Shepherd purebred except for the wilderness and the moon itself. The only other one who would hear that cry for help would be a mech waking from his nightmare of five years as he fell from his recharge berth, pink optics wide in alarm. He needed his help. Like static with a lone wolf's cry. Sideways needed to solve his own problems and failed to for five years. This, however, would decide the fate of the virus, dog, and the whole world.

The new war for Heaven and Hell started right there and then.

_**Starscream… Man's best friend…**_


	5. Hello

Shockbox: (pokes everyone with a stick) You thought I was dead again didn't you? Well you're wrong! Horribly, utterly, and insensibly wrong! (throws her stick at the auidence, accidently hits Father Ben, and sweatdrops) ...8 chapters to go now, all of which are long and agonizing to write. Nonetheless, Transformers is not mine. Happy now Hasbro? And please enjoy! Comments and helpful crit is much loved!

* * *

**/If I smile and don't believe/**

**/Soon I know I'll wake from this dream/**

**/Don't try to fix me, I'm not broken/**

**/Hello, I'm the lie, living for you so you can hide/**

_Hello_ - Evanescence

**000**

It was totally, utterly, and insensibly dark.

Sideways hadn't changed much in physical appearance during five years Earth solar cycle time, but there was no real need to. Mentally was a different story altogether, though there was no reason to debate the current thought at that very moment. He was surrounded by the endless darkness and he whipped around to see that it spread on seemingly forever. Where was he and how did he get there? He both did and didn't know as he spun around trying to grasp at exactly where he was. It was like space with the exception of no guiding stars and visible surrounding galaxies. Altogether, it made things lonely.

Both lonely and frightening at least. The frightening part he could easily do without if he had the chance to get rid of it. As it was, he couldn't deter it in intensity in the slightest.

Suddenly, a bone chilling, deep, and still seemingly malevolent laughter gave the impression to come from all around the motorcycle virus. Sideways looked around him rapidly, pink optics darting around him to see if he could spot the source of the cruel chuckling in the endless blackness, although he failed miserably and entirely. His infrared refused to work and his online scanners were ironically offline. He turned on his heel and whipped around in every which direction, his spark pulsating faster with each moment as the laughing seemed to escalate in intensity.

He knew fully where he was now, and he wanted desperately to wake up. Even he knew this was a dream, it was the same one he had had haunted him every night since the Unicron Battles bore its worst on him.

"_Sideways…" _it was bound to happen of course, the address at least. The laughing ceased, just as it always did during this nightmare, and the deep voice of his ex-master would come at him as if from all around. The sensation was uncomfortable, although it was familiar all the same. Sideways had been accustomed to this when he was within his ex-master while he roamed the innards of the giant chaos god. If his god didn't speak to him physically in the deep voice he used that always surrounded and caged him, it came within his head. It was uncomfortable but it was his only way of living all the same as a mere slave to a ravenous monster. Now it was just frightening that his prior master was lingering to haunt him like this.

With that, Sideways realized he had become morbidly afraid of Unicron.

"…_Come to me or there will be dire conciseness," _the voice taunted as Sideways realized how scared he actually was now. He was a coward at spark, true, but it was nowhere near dignifying even for him to be reduced to a shaking puddle of whimpering virus. There was a very good reason to be afraid of Unicron, and an even greater reason too if he created you and taunted you within your own head.

Sideways cowered in the darkness, unable to feel pity for himself at his own position in the situation, as Unicron appeared.

The chaos god was a semi-transparent version of his past self, scarred heavily from the Unicron Battles and reducing himself in size so he stood just a head over Sideways. Red eyes glared down at the purple cyclist and Sideways couldn't suppress the urge to back away on his suddenly unsteady feet.

"Unicron! You're… You're supposed to be _dead…"_ Sideways always said the same thing every time he was in this nightmare of sorts, but there was nothing in him to find himself to say anything else. His optics darted around him, trying to find any means of escape in the inky blackness, although he saw none. If he ran, Unicron would surely follow.

Unicron looked the same as he had been before. His red optics glowed with absolute loathing as he glared at the smaller bot. Sideways couldn't blame him. He had, after all, abandoned Unicron after nearly being killed. Apparently, Unicron couldn't forgive him for that. The god's fists clenched as he took a step towards Sideways, who backed up in response.

"_No Sideways. _You're_ the one supposed to be dead," _Unicron growled in a monotone voice at the bot. There might have been a light hint of annoyance in the dark god's voice, although Sideways could barley hear it. Unicron seemed very good at hiding his emotions… Of course, this was only if he _had_ any to begin with.

The motorcycle clenched his fist in a futile attempt to fool the planet Transformer into thinking he was afraid of the monster. But Unicron only chuckled with amusement and Sideways started to tremble in front of the ancient, demonic being. His show of fake bravery was fruitless, and Unicron smirked cruelly at his past pet.

"_Perhaps a part of you is not afraid of me…" _Unicron's full lips curled into a slight smirk, and Sideways felt himself want to sink out of existence in the moment. Without giving the virus time to prepare himself, Unicron continued. _"…But I know you're afraid of losing her…"_

Sideways felt a part of his spark die. He always wished he could wake up around this part of the nightmare, although he never did.

On a whole, this part frightened him the most.

"How do you know about Sapphire!?" His shriek was swallowed by the blackness and, to his, his outburst sounded like a hollow exclamation instead of the outburst it was meant to be. It was always like that really. Unicron would always threaten him with the fact that he was afraid of loosing Sapphirex--her nickname was Sapphire, although she preferred that over her real name--since she was the only one who was actually willing to trust him. She was the only one who treated him like he was 'normal'. That was probably because she didn't know that he was a virus created by the universe's most evil being.

"_I know everything you fool! I _created_ you! Now, come to me or I will destroy your pathetic pet and her planet. And I'll make you watch her _die," Unicron threatened with his booming voice, optics dark and lurking with the infinite darkness that was the essence of Unicron as a whole.

Sideways shrieked without even knowing it. "But you're dead! You can't be living!"

"_I may not be alive now but I will be very soon. Come to Earth where the Autobot base used to be and I will spare Sapphire and her world. I'll be waiting there,"_ Unicron said as he disappeared from the virus' sight. _"Do not disappoint me…"_

The nightmare always ended the same, always with the same threats and proposal, but something changed this time. Something--

Abruptly, an audio splitting howl broke through his consciousness.

**000**

Sideways woke up and he shot up into a sitting position, reddish pink optics wide as mech-fluid trickled down his forehead. Gasping and entirely oblivious to the fact he was leaning too far to his left, he fell out of the bed he was in and landed on the floor with a loud thud. The room was dimly lit, the only light coming from several candles stationed around the room and dancing on their wicks. The walls we're a dull dark sand color and some cracks were forming in the walls, showing how old the room actually was. The recharge berth he had been seconds before had a bedside table next to it and it was a wonder he didn't hit his head on it when he fell. On the bedside table was a bronze cross with a leather neck band. He stayed there for a few moments before he got up and then almost fell over again from tiredness and dizziness.

But the howl... That was new…

"It… it was just a dream," he said softly to himself as the door to his room flung open. The thought of the animalistic howl that awoke him was quickly forgotten.

Sideways turned to the female Transformer standing in the doorway. She had dark blue armor with light blue highlights and a more slender form than Sideways. Light blue optics darted to Sideways with concern as she darted over and knelt beside the fallen violet cyclist.

"Sideways, I thought I heard you fall out of bed. Are you okay?" Her voice was concerned for the mech and Sideways was glad she wasn't aware of his past. So, thankfully, he had a clean slate with her. He had been for the past five years. He blinked stupidly, fighting off the urge to go into a light recharge and made a light sound in the back of his throat.

"Y-yeah I'm fine. I just had another nightmare, t-that's all."

Sapphire smiled and helped him stand back up. The motorcycle virus swayed unsteadily on his feet, though he managed not to overbalance and fall back onto the floor in a jumbled mess. As soon as he was standing though, sapphire looked at him sternly. "Sideways, that's the forth one _this_ week. Are you _sure_ you're okay," She asked again with a concerned tone in her voice.

Sideways smiled behind his faceplate. Not even smirk: he genuinely smiled. He was grateful for her concern in a way. For what reasons however, he was now sure. He had been for almost five years. He lifted his right hand and, with his index finger, began to stroke the side of her head. It was meant to be a friendly gesture, although Sideways wished…

"Sapph, I don't really know… But I do know… That I…" Sideways trailed off just before another voice boomed from outside his room. Sideways winced at the loudness, seeing that he had somewhat sensitive hearing and that he had just woken up, rather unpleasantly from recharge.

"_Sapphirex! Sapphirex, young lady, the ceremony is about to start!"_ An old woman's voice was a scary thing early in the morning. Mainly when it called from the other room and Sideways knew who it was. Sapphire groaned in aggravation.

"I'm coming," the femme called back somewhat annoyed that the person who called had interrupted Sideways. She mused lightly under her breath, quickly uttered a quick blessing afterwards, and Sideways had to suppress a snigger when he realized she cursed. "I wish she wouldn't call me that…"

Of course, only now it dawned on Sideways…

Sideways gapped for a second before he raised a nonexistent eyebrow at the female. He felt himself begin to wake up more from his recharge cycle, true, but his mind was still slow. "Wait… _What_ ceremony?" Sideways blinked, almost sheepishly or stupidly in an awkward sense of sorts, and let Sapphire back away from him.

Sapphire only smirked and put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't tell me you forgot we live in a church, dummy," she playfully said to him as a look of realization made its way into Sideways' optics. Sapphire never saw him with his faceplate off and, since she couldn't read his face expressions, she just watched his body language and the look in his red optics to tell what he was feeling.

"Sorry. I kind of spaced on that. Not fully awake yet," Sideways replied to the femme with his smirk hinting into his voice ever so slightly.

Abruptly, footsteps were heard and stopped in the doorway. It was horrible timing, Sideways noted. There was only one other person that came down this way and, to him, the fact that said person was coming this was not a good sign. As if it ever was to begin with… They turned to the doorway to see another female Transformer. She was older than Sideways and Sapphire just visibly, her face duller from age and her body stalk. She had huge pieces of red armor with a bit of black and white here and there on making her look fat. But, of course, she was already fat in Sideway's opinion. The notion was impossible in a Transformer's right--they had no organic body mass--but Sideways wasn't in the mood to contemplate.

"M-mother!?" Sapphire unconsciously stepped further away from Sideways as she spotted her mother. Sideways didn't blame her in the slightest for the immediate reaction though. If Ruby--the head priest and overall obsessive woman that she was--was an animal, she'd be an Earth bovine bull. A very, _very_ nasty and moody bovine bull… To him at least per say. The priest practically papered her daughter Sapphirex like she was royalty, although not without punishing her for seeing him. Stammering now, Sapphire continued. "What are you doing down here," Sapph asked the large woman knowing what she was going to say about standing so close to Sideways and being in the same room with him.

Ruby got to her point immediately. "The ceremony is about to start! I _thought_ I told you," she scolded her daughter from the doorway while wagging a finger in the blue femme's direction, not daring to step into the room itself. Sideways made a mental sigh of relief that she didn't start about the demon thing again. Sapphirex had an expression in her optics that he could tell that she was thinking the same.

Shaking her head out of her thoughts, she looked back at her mother to reply to the question she was asked. "You did call me but--"

"But _nothing_," the aged femme scolded again, seeming to glare at the virus. "Sapphirex, lords upon the lords in both Matrix and beyond will not forgive you for your forgetfulness! Yes, even in fact--"

"Ruby, can you just _please_ calm down," Sideways just said trying to ignore the never lessening and intimidating glare Ruby was giving him. Next to Unicron, Roby was the scariest being in all of existence…

No. He didn't want to think of Unicron now. Not after the nightmare he had hoped to put behind him…

Ruby paid little if no attention to Sideways' words of advice and turned to her daughter once more. It was obvious that she didn't like Sideways from the very moment the cyclist had stepped into the church. "And…" Ruby started with wide optics, a hand reaching up around her neck to grasp at the iron cross that hung there, "what are you doing down here with _him_! I _told_ you not to go near him without an escort!"

Sapphire stepped forward and put a hand on her mother's shoulder, obviously trying to calm the eerie tension that had swept the room in a sort of odd deadlock. Sapphire let her azure optics gaze at her mother with a loving daughterly look as she attempted to calm her enraged creator. "Mother, Sideways had another nightmare and I cam down here to see if he was alright. I'm worried something might be wrong," The femme said trying to calm her mother down.

Ruby grabbed her daughter's arm and pulled her out of the room. "We'll discuss this later _after_ the service," Ruby said turning her back to Sapphire and walking away.

Sapphire turned back to Sideways and smiled. "I'll see you later," she said just before she turned away and walked out of Sideways' sight.

Several seconds after she left, Sideways groaned as he sat on the bed and put a hand to his forehead. He _really_ hated it when Ruby would always glare at him and come into the room whenever he was with Sapphire. And at the worst moment possible to say the least. And to this time he had been so close to admitting…

"Sapphire, I wish I could tell you that I love you," He thought as he got up and took a cross of the bedside table.

It was a silly thing really. Perhaps even a stupid notion, although Sideways couldn't ever help it even if he wanted to. With everything taken into account, he had fallen for Sapphire--her spark name was Sapphirex, although she wasn't fond of it in the slightest--in the time that he had been able to spend with her, as little as it was with Ruby always watching his every move. He put the small cross around his neck and started out of the room he called home for five years. He took the back door out of the church often because Ruby would never let him use the front door. She said others would never come to their church if they knew, for lack of a better term, a _demon_ was living there. At first, he was mad when she called him that but he couldn't say that he wasn't one…

"Why does she hate me so much? What did I do to her?" He was quietly talking to himself again as he looked up at the sky. He seemed to be doing that more often now lately anyways.

After Sideways was gravely damaged by the Requiem Blaster, he managed to have enough energy to start up a warp gate and teleport himself to a planet where he could get someone to repair him. He met Sapphire that day. She was in vehicle mode, a two wheeled transport vehicle similar to that of his own, driving down the road when she saw him lying lifelessly on the dirt path. She brought him to the church and nurtured him back to health. Ruby, however, didn't like him one bit. She was extremely religious--Ex-Unicron Minion, zero, stubborn female Transformer priest, one--and she didn't like the fact that Sideways didn't know anything about religion.

_Ha._ Like he was supposed to know something like that while working for someone that fit the criteria of satin himself… _Not._

The planet he was on knew about and practiced every single religious act in the universe. One practice included sacrificing dead fish to the water spirit like Quintesons did in their religion of Quinterince. Another involved daily worship for several or one gods. Nonetheless, the unnamed planet practiced every single one of them, or close to it. It was even considered treason if someone went into public not wearing a holy cross. Eventually, when he was fully recovered from his incident with the blaster, he was wondering if he should stay on the planet he was on or go back to the destroyed chaos bringer. He was starting to bond with Sapphire in a way and he decided to stay with her so he could make up for all the horrible things he did in the past.

Of course, he never _did_ tell Sapphirex or Ruby that he was really a virus created by the most evil being in the universe. He just told them that he wanted to stay with them to make up for some, urgh, 'sins.' For one, the word tasted weird in his mouth, further proving to him he'd never get into anything that went on the planet. For another, Ruby evidently made it clear one sin was way too many and she never talked to him unless it was to scold him for doing something like stepping into the main hall of the church. Still, she did give him an old room in the back. Sapphire helped him clean the place up to make it more homey and she even gave him her cross that her father gave to her before he died. She said it was a gift for being a good friend.

One night though, Sideways overheard Ruby talking to Sapphire about him. Ruby told her daughter that it was the wrong to give a cross to a demon from Hell. Sapphire was outraged that her mother would call him that but Ruby said that she could sense that there was a powerful evil within him. Sideways went to his room to think about what she said before Sapphire came in. She told Sideways that she was sorry about what her mother said and she didn't believe all that junk. But, he knew, it was all too true.

_'I may be a demon but that doesn't mean that I'm entirely demonic,' _Sideways thought as he transformed into vehicle mode and drove off.

Instead of taking the road into town, he took the road that lead into the woods. He normally went this way so he could get some time to himself. The planet was similar to Earth with its organic plants and substances, but the life here was different. The dirt roads were surrounded by forests of huge trees that were much bigger then standard human trees. Industrialization was illegal and against moral and religious standards on this particular planet, so all they could have were irritating gravel and dirt roads. It was a pain in the afterburners dealing with dust and small dirt particles in your gears, although it was an adaptable situation all the same. Once he came to a clearing, the road was surrounded by fields of grass and flowers. The grass and flowers were much tougher than the plants of Earth and they lasted longer.

Sideways _loved_ this part of the road. Not because of the flowers though. That was something that irritating Autobot--Sideswipe his name was if memory served him correctly--that he used to know would probably like. He was about ten miles away from town now and, if he was in the right kind of mood, he'd ride back and forth along the road causing big clouds of dust to cool his temper. If his tire's grip failed on the road, he could curse without someone hearing him. It was a good form of therapy when he was bored or upset over something, and it worked for him just fine.

He only went down the road for about ten cycles--perhaps nine, although there was no reason for him to keep track--before he felt a sharp pain in his front wheel. He let out a yelp before he transformed and skidded on the ground on his heels. He nearly fell over from the sudden stop, as humiliating as it would be even with no one around to see him, and he grasped the wheel trying to ease the pain. He figured he'd gotten a pebble trapped in it as the sting subsided and he scowled. The armor plating on the front tire usually kept small sharp rocks from getting into the treads of his front tire…

"Stupid plating…" he mused. He checked his tire visibly, using his hand to rotate it in its hold on his back before he scanned it more thoroughly. There was no pebble that came up on his monitors. The sudden wave of pain had been random and he checked his self-diagnosis on instinct, finding that everything was working normally. Seemingly, there was nothing wrong.

He grunted and narrowed his optics in irritation at the tire, realizing he would have to cut his little trip short. "Still, better be safe than sorry," he said grudgingly. The open roads would have to wait.

He was about ready to head back to the church, preparing himself to transform as he stretched out his body to its fullest without straining his gears and prepared to leap forward so to could immediately go without wasting Energon when it happened again. It was quick and almost like a pinprick but, abruptly, it struck even more powerful than before and in his _head_.

He stumbled, nearly fell on his face, and only managed to regain his balance by nothing short of a small miracle. As soon as he stood though, the searing and scraping sensations in his skull hit him full force like he had been T-boned by Megatron or Demolisher. If he could think anything beyond the pain, he probably would have thought it might've been nearly as bad as crashing head on into Tidalwave. "What the fucking _slag!?"_ he shrieked, grabbing his head so hard his knuckles would have turned white as he fell onto his side on the ground beside the road.

He was in too much pain to care that he swore--quite horribly mind you even though it was crude English and not his more familiar Cybertronian--on the most religious planet in the universe. He had no idea what was going on but he _knew_ he was in deep trouble. No one knew he had come this way and he was too far down the road for someone from town to hear his cries. Then, as if on a sick cue of sorts that could have only been brought up by someone as cruel as Unicron himself, the pain surged through every part of his body.

With that, all he could do was scream.

He removed his hands from his head and grabbed the grass on the ground trying to get up and find out what in the fiery Pitt was going on. His body shook furiously before the pain abruptly subsided in its mass. Still, he couldn't move at all. He was worn out from all the agony he went through and didn't know if it was going to happen again at any moment. All he could do was hope--pray maybe for irony's sake--that someone would find him. Against his own will, dimmed his pink optics and fell into sleep mode.

It was totally, utterly, and insensibly dark.


	6. Haunted

Shockbox: (blinks stupidly) Yay! I updated again! (pops confetti) This chapter was a litle harder to write, seeing as I had less to work with with inspiration wise, but meh. I got it up and that's all that counts. (winks) Transformers and such is not owned by me. I just own the plot and my laptop and such.

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**/Watching me, wanting me/**

**/I can feel you pull me down/**

**/Fearing you, loving you/**

**/I won't let you pull me down**

_Haunted_ - Evanescence

**000**

The darkness never erupted. It only remained.

Sideways unlined his optics slowly as he came to, the pink light of his narrowed eyes contrasting horribly with the shadows around him. Taking in his surroundings with an unsteady mind and frail concept of where he was, he laid on the ground uncomfortably settled on his back tires for perchance a little under an hour. Perhaps it took him more than an hour or so to know exactly where he was, let alone wake up from his dazed state, but it did little to matter. He was no longer on the side of the road where he collapsed, but he _was_ surrounded by total darkness. Somewhat panicked, he sat up slowly and got to his feet while wobbling a little, managing to not fall over in a stroke of luck of its own.

"Dammit…" Sideways looked around him, knowing he was in the darkness of recharge once more like that of his nightmares, although the air here was different. There was no hostility that loomed over him like a wet blanket on a freezing night. It seemed warmer somehow and all that much less threatening on a whole.

For the record, it surprised him. Even more so when he heard something and was struck.

Abruptly, like something out of all haphazard surprises he had ever known, Sideways felt something hit the back of his head. It was a small object--slightly squishy as well--but it had enough force on impact to cause him to stumble slightly. His footsteps echoed ominously throughout the eerie blackness and, for the sake of himself, it was something that made him momentarily terrified. Regaining his proper footing, he felt the high wave of apprehension regarding turning around and looking at whatever had struck him. Still, nonetheless, he did turn, making a slow turn on his heel and looking over his shoulder expecting to see Unicron…

He saw no such thing as demonic as his prior lord. Instead, his pink optics settled onto the feathered creature lying on the ground several feet away from him. It was a small white bird. Its innocent and light blue eyes stared blankly at him and clearly it died due to impacting his head.

Sideways knew right away what kind of animal it was since Ruby mentioned it several times in some church sessions. Of course, he never _actually_ saw these sessions because he was never allowed to. He could only listen to them through a small crack in the wall in his room that lead to the main church hall. The small bird was a dove, more commonly known as a pigeon. In Earth religion, some considered them sacred…

Frankly, he noted with a painful start he killed the dove. Accidentally mind you, but he supposed it came with the brand of being a monster created by the chaos god.

"…I'm so sorry," Sideways whispered to no one in particular. He knew the statement had been directed to the corpse of the dead bird, even if it wasn't like it could ever hear him. It wasn't like he could give back the life he had taken from the small white bird.

Sideways kneeled slowly and picked up the deceased bird, holding it in his left hand as a sense of guilt came over him like a powerful wave crashing on a beach. He stood up and wobbled slightly again looking into the bird's eyes. He lifted up his right hand and, with his index finger, stroked the soft white feathers on the dove hoping that it would wake up and be alive again. To no avail, and in a depressing sense, it stayed lying on its back not moving an inch. Those dead eyes continued to stare at him like they were begging from a release of some sort of pain, and Sideways felt worse realizing the impact with his head had not killed the small dove. Hitting the ground _had_. The poor creature, minding its own business and flying through the darkness like an angel, had not seen him and had struck the back of his skull before it could avoid him. The agony of breaking all of its fragile, organic bones had been agony for the beautiful animal and, tragically, it had to suffer through its pain until it finally hit the ground.

…The frightening thing was, it reminded him of himself.

Sideways could barely remember when he was normal… When he was still that of a regular and average young and energetic mech on a planet he could no longer remember. Nor could he remember his own name from his original origins--he could barley remember anything really after awakening up reborn in Unicron for the first time as a slave to the unholy god--but a part of him knew he was like the dove. He had been carefree as far as he could remember and, although he knew nothing of his past, he knew he was free.

Free was a word that Sideways knew could never describe him. Something like that _never_ could.

He had no clue whether he was the first or final casualties when Unicron devoured his planet, but he knew he died painfully. He knew nothing of his death or why Unicron had chosen him, but he had. He was reborn within Unicron's dark heart in the darkest corners of the chaos lord's innards--delusional, weak, and in pain with no recollection of how he had gotten there or who he was--and enslaved. Essentially, he was no longer free.

He wanted to be free from Unicron's overpowering grasp for the longest time.

There were times he tried to resist Unicron, true, but he always ended up on his knees and screaming in agony when Unicron assaulted him inside his own CPU and darkening spark. Eventually, he was broken entirely, any evidence of his past self entirely gone. All that remained was the twisted beast called Sideways.

He was like the dove because he had hit something he could never avoid, fell in a downward spiral, and, eventually, became an empty shell and only the reflection he once was. Unicron killed him just as he had slain the sacred white bird.

Sideways felt a moisture--alien to him, but familiar al the same--built up at his optics. He snarled and tried to blink them away. He only managed to succeed slightly noting his face still burned from the sort of grief he felt. He kneeled down and set the cream colored pigeon down gently, careful to not ham the frail body with his massive fingers. He stood up again and turned away so he wouldn't have to face the innocent creature he had unconsciously stolen life from.

He sighed and never looked over his shoulder, afraid he would break down in disbelief he saw the body once more. "…Forgive me." With that, and with nothing else to do but to think and figure out how to get home, he began walking in the opposite direction--

Ruffling of feathers. Flapping of wings. Coos of a small animal.

The sounds were so random and so quick in succession, Sideways nearly jumped out of his own casing. He whipped around unconsciously, only realizing he did so when a flash of white caught his optic.

Turning around, Sideways saw the dove flying right over to him.

"Okay, if that isn't a fluke then I don't know what it is," Sideways said surprised as the bird perched on his shoulder. It cooed lightly, letting its claws tap lightly on his mauve shoulder plating as it settled into a comfortable position. The last time a bird had ever perched on him, it had been a seagull on Earth that refused to leave him alone while he was in vehicle-mode. He preferred to try to _not_ remember shifting to robot-mode when no one was looking to throw the animal into the nearest lamppost, but that was another story all together. Here, the dove was no where near aggravating on the scale the brain dead seagull was, and the dove was so much quieter now, so much more innocent…

…So much more alive when it had been dead moments earlier.

"_Thank you for your kindness towards me."_

Sideways felt his spark skip a beat and he looked around him quickly. The bird remained perched on his shoulder, true, but he couldn't find anyone else with him currently that had been the source of the small, almost feminine voice…

Then the bird on his shoulder shifted and cooed again. In an instant, Sideways snapped his head to stare incredulously white bird. He'd never seen any animal other than a human that could speak but… Had the dove really spoken to him?

"_Yes, Sideways, I'm talking to you."_ The bird's beak never moved, nor did the dove itself, but the dove radiated the air of more sentience than it should've held to begin with. _"You shouldn't be so surprised, really. A giant virus machine created by a demonic being is much more impressive than a small white bird, you know."_

The thought was confirmed in an instant. Suddenly, the bird flew off Sideways' shoulder and landed on the ground. Then the small animal was engulfed in a bright light and Sideways had to cover his optics from the intense brightness. Then the light died down and the realized it had died down enough for him to uncover his optics. When he did, it was still hard enough for him to see still. A woman stood before Sideways where the dove once was. She had dirty blonde hair, light blue eyes that would lighten the darkest of souls, and a sky blue robe on that reminded Sideways about Sapphire's own sky blue optics.

It still didn't stop Sideways from making a strangled noise in his throat when he realized just who he was looking at. Sideways had seen pictures of her in the church and knew her well.

It was the mother of Jesus Christ, Mary.

Sideways gulped when he saw Mary before him. He couldn't _believe_ it. Aside the fact this made him a prophet of sorts, he knew Ruby would have a conniption if he dared even try to convince Ruby he was one. Just as he finished the thought, Mary began to walk towards the stunned bot in light, delicate steps more suited for that of a cat than a dove. More so on impulse. Sideways backed away slightly, optics wide in shock and awe.

Mary didn't smile, but something along the lines of one radiated off her like the soothing warmth of a fire. _"Do_ _not worry. I wish to not harm you again," _she spoke with a soft voice that pierced the silence in the darkness.

'_Again…?'_ Sideways thought before he realized what she was talking about. "Are you saying you caused me to collapse on the side of the road?"

Mary sadly nodded her head, her face still entirely neutral. _"I didn't wish to harm you but it was the only way I could get your attention," _she spoke walking up to Sideways again. Her moth never moved when she talked, nor did the light that radiated of her form lessen as she spoke. She truly held the air of an angel, and Sideways felt a pang of self-consciousness take over when he realized he was nothing compared to what the angel before him was.

The virus kneeled down beside the mother of Christ without him even noticing as Mary looked up at him. His red optics met the human's blue ones and he held out a hand to her. "Well, you got my attention," he said just as Mary got on his hand, seemingly ignoring his silent invitation to get on.

Standing up, Sideways stared down at the human in his palm. Suddenly, the smile on her gentle face vanished. _"Please, Heaven and those seeking sanctuary there are in grave peril,"_ she said with a voice not nearly as steady as it had been prior. Her tone wasn't Sideways' first immediate concern though.

This got Sideways' attention as he stared down at her. Not nearly as much so as when she had pain lance throughout his entire system, but the point had gotten across nonetheless. "What do you mean," the virus asked confused by this. Mary looked at him with a pleading look on her face. The neutral air held to it before had lessened slightly, and the only emotion that got through to him from her was utter fear.

That was never a good thing. Sideways knew that all too well.

"_The devil himself threatens to return to the world of mortals again. The Lords that control the essence of all that lives cannot stop him, but there are those who can. I believe that someone is you along with two others,"_ Mary said as Sideways bit his lower lip behind his faceplate. _"Please, Sideways. It has become a mater of life and death."_

"Why _me?" _Sideways asked still in shock that the devil threatened to return again…

Wait_. Again?_

"…The devil's risen to the world of mortals once? When did _that_ happen?" Sideways eyed Mary, looking at her with confused optics. A moment later, Mary looked at him surprised.

"_Why, I thought you would have known who your old master _really_ was,"_ Mary said as a look of sheer horror appeared on Sideways' face. His optics widened slightly and he clenched his teeth behind his faceplate.

"No… Are you saying _Unicron_ is the _devil __**himself!?"**_

Mary nodded her head in response to the bot's uttermost shock, her reddish brown hair falling over her eyes slightly like that of a veil. _"Indeed, he is. But that is why _you_ have been chosen to help the other two destroy him," _she said as Sideways tried--and miserably fail--to regain his composure.

The cyclist shook his head mentally, clearing his thoughts and trying to reorganize the once that wouldn't clear from his processor, and looked back to the angel standing on his palm. "Who are the other two that can help me," he asked as Mary frowned.

The red headed woman looked around her, almost nervously, before turning her attention back to the cyclist. Her voice was softer now, almost as if she were afraid someone would hear their conversation. _"Unfortunately, the first has been tricked by a priest into believing that he can revive her lost love by using the power of a stone that once belonged to my son. Even worse, the one she loves, the second, is in the reincarnated body of a creature that has no way of warning her of the danger,"_ Mary said worriedly. She made an entirely un-useful gesture with her hands and looked at Sideways with even more seriousness than before. _"I fear for _both_ their lives."_

What she said began to make sense to Sideways until she had mentioned the priest involved. From what he knew, priests were supposed to be holy people--good people at most--who tried to help others. Sideways did a mental double take and stared down at Mary with a slightly raised optic ridge. "What does the priest have to do with this," Sideways asked the female angel in his palm. Mary took her gaze away from him for a moment and stared in the darkness. Sideways turned his head to look as well and he swore he heard soft whispers from the shadows. Mary turned back to him with a worried look on her face.

"_I must explain quickly. The devil's followers will kill you if they see you with me,"_ she said quietly, eyes slightly wider and her voice even twice as soft. So there was something other then them in the shadows, and the mention of the Devil's followers got Sideways on edge.

All he remembered being in the darkness was Unicron… Unless… Oh, _Primus…_

Mary broke him from his horrifying hypothesis and almost made conclusion. "The priest's name is Father Benjamin Burrougs. He refers to himself as Father Ben, but his name is not of importance. Only the horrors he wishes to unleash in greed to increase his own power." Mary stopped and made another quick look about her. _"As for the two that will help you, you know the first as Alexis--"_

Sideways blinked at attention at the familiar name. "She was one of the humans that always followed the Autobots…"

"Yes," Mary said quickly, maybe almost impatiently. _"She was the brown haired girl that was on the Autobots when you were on their side. Aside that, after Starscream died, she began to mourn for him very much. She loved him and never got to chance to tell him that. She began to slip into depression after the Autobots departed for Cybertron and she needed to get extra credit in school because that sadness prevented her from getting good grades… Alexis went to an old church to get some information for her project. Unfortunately, Father Ben, the priest of that church, had been contacted by dark sprits telling him that he could have the power of Satin himself if he revived the Dark Lord with the stone she obtained from inside the chaos god. He was so consumed with greed that he didn't realize the consequences of such foolish behavior. When she came to him, he made up the lie that he would revive Starscream if she gave him the stone."_

Suddenly, an evil but soft laughter filled the air and Sideways felt a cold chill travel through his body. Sideways shivered slightly and Mary resumed her explaining even more hushed and quickly than ever.

"_She gave him the stone that belonged to my son, Jesus. They then preformed a ritual that the priest said was supposed to revive Starscream. It was really a curse Ben put on the whole room. After Alexis left, he took the stone and replaced it with the body of a dove. The following day, Alexis went to the church to find Starscream's figure behind the curtain leading into the room. It wasn't Starscream. It was a demon created by the bodies of doves that Ben killed using poison. It had no physical body yet so its spirit could morph into the figure of Starscream. Even as we speak, that demon grows into its physical form. It won't be useful for bringing Unicron back. Ben needs it to kill Alexis and the second. The second that will help you knows of the danger but cannot warn her."_

It became deathly cold and Sideways could see Mary's breath in the chilled air. Then, Sideways felt a dark presence in the room and felt like he had weights tied onto him. Mary gasped.

"…_They're here,"_ she whispered just barley under her breath. Her face was paler now and her breath was thin as if she were on edge. After a moment--and a moment that was nearly as short as perhaps Hotshot's own attention span--Mary turned her blue eyed gaze back to Sideways. Fear was etched onto her face in an obviously painful manner, and that said manner frightened Sideways a great deal at the moment. _"You must leave."_

The ominous feeling he had in his nightmares began to creep back into his existence and Sideways felt utter and raw fear begin to rear its ugly head. But there were still things he needed to know! Mary had not yet even come close to finishing any sort of explanation of what was happening and, in an even more frightening sense, he knew not what to do with the information he now possessed. Tel Sapphire? Go back to the Autobots and, Primus forbid, tell Optimus? The thought seemed unlikely and so likely all the same, but he didn't know what it was exactly Mary wanted him to do exactly!

"What about the priest!? When will he revive Unicron!?" Sideways felt panic etching into his voice as his 'nightmare' escalated. Sideways was always used to the looming presence of Unicron, true, but it had increased in ferocity, The feeling of having a wet blanket over his head turned into a choking veil of darkness that kept him from breathing and made him feel as if he were drowning in a freezing stem like mist. It was horrible and he felt his spark pulsate faster in fear.

Mary looked about her wildly, her body almost distorted by the feeling of fear that overcame the cyclist mech. He felt tears unconsciously stinging his optics in frustration and frightened anxiety when the human angel didn't respond immediately. After a moment, she looked to him again, her eyes looking wild and scared. _"Yes, he will have the demon kill Alexis at 11:47 tomorrow and, at the exact hour of midnight thirteen minutes later, he will revive the chaos lord. He'll gain the powers and strengths of Unicron as well before then perhaps, but nothing is for sure unless you act quickly."_

Sideways felt something touch his leg and he stepped backward quickly in surprise. Turning his head to look at Mary, he saw was as white as a ghost.

"_You must wake up! Now! They'll kill you!"_

Suddenly, Sideways felt a sharp pain in his back as if someone stabbed him. He screamed only when the pain _twisted_ in his lower back and ripped up to his shoulder like someone had jerked a sword from inside him up his body unmercifully. He stumbled forward in pain as Mary fell off his hand. Without so much as even a scream, she swiftly transformed into the white dove and flew off into the darkness. Sideways stood up again when he recovered and looked around, searching for Mary with terrified optics.

"Mary!? Mary, you forgot to tell me who the second's identity was! _MARY!"_

Perhaps as even out of a horror novel or gross slasher movie, two red eyes appeared in front of the virus and something along the lines of being cold and unforgiving hands grabbed him around the neck. The dark force, whatever it was, then tossed the virus to the floor and suddenly jumped on his stomach, pinning Sideways down like a cat would pin a small dove. Like Unicron pinned Sideways under his control.

Sideways snapped his eyes shut and desperately tried to wake himself up from the unfolding nightmare.

"_Sideways, open your optics. There is no escape."_

Sideways tried to flail his arms and legs but he couldn't move, the weight of the creature on top of him too much of a load. Suddenly, he felt whoever it was grab the cross around his neck and, with a monstrous force, rip it right off. Sideways gasped suddenly, seeing that the cross was Sapphire's and meant so _very_ much to her. Now, because of him, it wasn't around his neck anymore. Without even realizing what he was doing, he opened his optics. Sheer horror, terror, and a sudden regret for opening his optics filled him as he saw the creature on top of him.

If he could find his voice or anything real part of him, he would have either screamed or cried. Crying was weak, true, but he had nothing left to loose now.

Sapphire smirked down at her prey. "It's time to go to Hell, Sideways," the demon smirked as tears began forming in the virus' optics.

"No! You're not Sapphire!" He began to flail around again and suddenly glared at Sapphire, finding the energy to get his legs free and bring them to his chest. "Go rot in the _Pit!"_ He kicked the femme in the breast plate and she flew off him, landing on her back.

A sickening crack echoed out as Sapphire landed on the ground. Her back snapped and she lay motionless. A sudden realization filled the virus. He killed her. He had broken her back and neck when he kicked her off him, killing the femme. Sideways stood and stared at the limp body across the room. Against his own will, tears forced themselves out of his optics as he walked towards her corpse.

"No. Sapphire, I'm so sorry." His voice was trembling. He kneeled next to her body and lifted her head slightly. He extended another hand towards her face and stroked her cheek. Suddenly, she opened her optics. Sideways gasped and dropped her head and, falling backwards onto his rear, backed up using just his hands and legs, not finding the strength to stand. Sapphire's optics were red instead of blue. Unicron red.

"Oh, come now Sideways. Are you _really_ afraid of _me?"_ Sapphire's voice sounded just like Unicron's as she stood up and began to walk towards Sideways. The manner was almost seductive--a walk that was never used by the real Sapphire--as her hips swayed from side to side in an intoxicating manner. Her body suddenly changed its form, growing bulky and evil looking to form the horrible figure of Unicron. In all his hideous glory, he continued o advance on the virus without missing a single beat. _"You really are a weakling. Just as you were when I found you and just as you are now."_

"St-stay away from me!"

Unicron came closer to Sideways. Suddenly, something grabbed him by the shoulders and prevented him from backing up further. He was trapped. Unicron then dropped down in front of Sideways and grabbed his neck. Sideways gasped as air was forced out of his mechanical lungs. Although Transformers didn't need to breathe oxygen, they still had to breathe, taking intakes, to keep their normal involuntary functions functioning. Suddenly, Sideways realized Unicron was going to strangle him.

Something behind him bit him and started digging into his armor. Sideways tried to scream but his voice box was being crushed by Unicron's grip around his throat. Something else scratched him followed by more bites. Sideways realized that Unicron wasn't the only one he needed to worry about. His other demons were trying to kill him as well. Sideways tried to thrash around but he was firmly pinned. No escape.

Sideways snapped his optics shut and tried to mentally break free from the nightmare. It wasn't working as he felt the creatures rip at his armor and Unicron's grip tighten. Those monsters were trying to eat him alive and Unicron was trying to throttle him. He didn't know which was worse.

"_You will die for your betrayal and your pet will perish."_

A sudden anger and determination arose in him as he snapped his optics open. "No!" He found the strength to extend his arm and gabbed Unicron's face. He dug his fingers into Unicron's metal flesh and screamed. _**"I WON'T LET YOU PULL ME DOWN!"**_

He felt a sudden hate for Unicron and a sudden loss of caring for himself as he gorged his fingers into Unicron's ruby and emotionless optics. The scarlet glass of his lord's eyes shattered and, holding back the urge to want to vomit, he dug his fingers into his prior master's optics. Unicron said nothing but, the demons around Sideways, howling and laughing, escalated their attempted feeding frenzy into an all out attempt at mutilating Sideways. His tires were ripped away from his body, his chest plate was shattered and his chest was dug into, his legs were torn… That pain was greater than any time Sideways could ever remember and it was nothing compared to when Unicron made him his slave and when Unicron stole the cross Sapph had given to him.

Frankly, and aside all Mary had said, he didn't care if he died now. All he wanted to do was give the bastard a piece of his freaking mind.

He hooked his fingers in Unicron's skull and, with a pain and hate filled battle cry, he jerked his hand forward with as much strength as possible. It was a sick thing really when he managed to tear Unicron's face off. Unicron did nothing as much as even trying to resist or scream as he whole upper face was torn away, spilling hot Energon onto Sideways' tear stained face and exposing sparking cables of light that flew off in every direction.

There were thousands of screams and Sideways snapped his optics shut again, the pain reaching a huge climax as he screamed in agony once more. Suddenly, he felt groggy and he felt his body go limp. The tight grip around his throat lessened and the creatures stopped biting him.

He slowly let his optics flicker online and he found himself staring at the sky, awake.


End file.
